The Human Element
by Vendicor
Summary: Prime-verse. Destiny and fate comes in many different shapes and sizes. Some people are meant to find their place in the world on a whim, others work for it. Mine just so happens to come in the form of several dozen feet tall robots and I and some human are caught in the middle.
1. Prologue

The open road can be a relaxing time for some.

For me, it's the same old same old and I don't feel any different driving along an open road than I do rooted to one spot. You kind of get used to that setting when you spend a year of your life on the road.

Why am I on the road you may ask? Well I wasn't willing to stay home where I lived and I decided that living a life on the road may be the best thing for me. My parents probably would be worried for me if they paid attention.

But they don't. They really don't so instead of staying home, the open road was what appealed to me more.

My name is Mason. Mason Marrow. I'm 18 years old and I am driving down a highway road somewhere in Nevada going who knows where. All I have is the motorcycle under me and the backpack filled with a ton of supplies I need to survive or just live in general. Normally I'd be in college, working to get a degree and get a paying job but since my parents aren't that interested, I decided to just go. I still have a laptop with me that I use to take classes online but that's about it. My parents gave me a credit card and said I can pretty much do whatever I want with it as long as I don't disappoint them.

They think they are that successful and that devoted to their work that what I do won't mess up their eccentric lifestyle. Since I haven't been cut off yet, I just use the cash to pay for classes and to buy food and supplies when I need it. It's nothing major or life fulfilling but I'm happy to live in contempt with how I am.

I've been moving from state to state now with no clear goal in mind but as long as nothing big comes up and tries to throw a wrench in how I live, I'll settle for how I live at this point.

"SON OF A—!" I yell in surprise as a car come barreling past me, nearly running me off the road. I swerve a little on both sides of the road but I hit the brake to stop me altogether. Once I stop, I stare at the fleeing car. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING ROAD HOG!" I yell after the vehicle. I have no idea if the asshole heard me or not but it still felt good yelling like that. With a frustrated grunt like that, I shut off the engine to relax and steady myself a little. "Stupid red Dodge Challenger. Just because you got a nice car doesn't mean you own the road!" I say somewhat loudly in my frustration and reorient myself. I fix my polarized sunglasses, swipe my short black hair back into place, and shake my leather black jacket with a red stripe along the arms loose of any debris before griping the handles. Placing my black combat boots back on the pedal and gripping the handles, my bike revs loudly as it turns on and I continue driving.

Seriously what the hell was that? Its literally an open road at this point and no one was coming in the opposite line. Really! You can see it for miles and there's nothing! Douche didn't need to nearly clip me. _'Next time I see that car parked I'm gonna take that damn bull horn hood ornament.'_ I smile at the thought and rev my engine a little, propelling me forward a little faster.

I spend half hour just drifting down the road after my near collision with that car and so far everything seems pretty quiet. The road continues to be its more country-esque landscape with the grass, wooden fences, and trees here and there. I'm casually driving at this point and so I can relax, although I am curious about where the next town is that I'll be heading too. _'Once I stop at the next gas station, I'll find out where I am and go from there.'_ With the plan in mind, I head along the least broken down road because chances are that may lead to civilization faster.

A lot of loud clanging and clashing metal nearby draws my attention however. "Hm?" I mutter at the noise. Looking in the direction I hear, I decide to go off-road and investigate. I don't have to go far as the sound is right off the dirt ro—

*Boooom!*

"Argh!" I grunt loudly as a massive explosion of blue flames erupts in front of me. The force knocks me back and sends me sliding on the ground on the side of my bike. "Ow. Damn." I groan at nearly getting scrapped on the ground harshly and the force of the explosion leaves me a little jarred but overall I'm alright. As I look up to see what the hell caused the explosion, my breath hitches as I see something unbelievable.

What looks like a giant warship is in the sky above me. I didn't see it at first because the clouds were covering it but the explosion that was sent skywards pushed the clouds out of the way, revealing the behemoth for me to see. "What… in the…?" My question trails off as the idea of seeing this thing seems almost… unreal.

Loud stomping sounds get my attention away from the floating ship. _'Crap! Hide!'_ I quickly tell myself and get onto my feet. Taking my motorcycle with me, I roll it to the right of the crater from where the explosion came from and move behind a large boulder just as the source of the thumping becomes evident. I lay my ride against the rock and peek out to be met with an amazing sight.

Giant robots. Like seriously, giant moving purple and black autonomous robots are walking out of the crater, dragging a red one of the ground along with them not so gingerly. I can make out some groans from the one on the ground and it doesn't take a genius to know that they must have had a spat, considering how beat up the red one is and the lack of care the others have for him. "Holy…" I don't get to finish my statement of awe at their movement and sheer power that they seem to radiate. I commit their forms to memory and watch as they board the giant ship in the sky. With how carelessly they drag the red guy onto it, I can only surmount that he's going to be there prisoner. _'Sucks for him.'_ I comment in my head. I lean back into the rock as the ship begins to gain height and disappear altogether into the sky and distance. After taking a quick look around to make sure their aren't anymore of those robots around, I walk out and take in the whole scene and what I just saw not even a minute ago. "Wow."

There really isn't anymore I can say on the matter. I just saw several giant robotic… creatures, I think, just walk out of this crater that's filled with charred black crystals, I'll get back to that later, and went in a giant menacing ship that is somewhere around the length and width of a football field, most likely bigger, and just took off with a supposed prisoner. Yep, this is an interesting day.

A giant swirling vortex of green opens up almost on the other side of the crater from me.

"Oh man." Not wanting to be spotted, I slide back behind the rock again and wait. As the swirling sound of the vortex continues to permeate the air for a few seconds, I also hear the sound of loud shifting metal, engine vehicle motors and thundering impact sounds on the ground. Again, very carefully I slide along the rock and get a look at the new arrivals. Unfortunately, they aren't there anymore. Looking around I don't see them up here on my level. My curiosity getting the best of me, I go out from behind the rock, crouch low to the ground and head over to the edge of the crater. As I get closer and closer, the second I spot a head moving, I drop onto my stomach and crawl forward. Once I get to the edge, I peek over and carefully examine them. These ones are bit more colorful than the ones I first saw and come in varying sizes, five in total. Unfortunately, my position can't help make out the specifics of them but I can hear their voices.

"An untapped energon deposit." One of them comments. _'Energon?'_

"What's left of it." Another asks. _'So it's not supposed to be black and broken… explains the explosion earlier.'_

"The first Deception activity in three year." The first one comments again and appears to be examining the site around them.

"That we know of. If they're scouting for energon, they may be preparing for his return." A different, more calm voice answers. Judging from the tone and even just hearing his voice alone, he seems like the leader of their group.

There is a momentary lapse in silence from the conversation and I lean up more to look. "No." I hear what sounds like a female say in what seems like horror as she bends down and picks something up from off the ground. She shows the leader it and he looks to another.

"Ratchet, can you track his position?" He asks another. The robot he asks brings up his arm, which opens up with some sort of scanner.

"No." He breathes out in horror as well. "Cliffjumper's life signal just went offline." He tells the leader.

"Cliffjumper? Was that the red one?" I mutter to myself at the name.

*Crack*

I freeze and grit my teeth as a few rocks near me break off and fall down the craters wall, alerting them. "Oh man." I moan under my breathe and roll back.

"What was that?"

"I don't know."

"Autobots, check the perimeter. We may not be alone." The leader says and I hear footsteps.

"Oh crap oh crap." I mutter and scramble backwards away from the hole. I do what I can to make sure my movement is as quiet as I can and thankfully their thundering footsteps drown out mine. I move behind the rock just as they crest the crater and begin examining the area. I push myself as I tight against the rock as I can to the left of my bike and freeze

' _Don'tseemedon'tseemedon'tseemedon'tseeme…'_ I repeat in my head over and over again as the giant robots steps start to get louder and louder.

As I feel them almost right next to me, the loud thundering sound of their steps stop. As I freeze with my bike right next to me, I slowly look up to see the green one leaning over my rock. Thankfully he's not looking down on me but instead staring off somewhere else in the distance. Just from his head alone I can tell this guy could probably crush me in an instant or without any sort of effort whatsoever. I held my breath as he looks left, then right before staring straight and pulling back. A couple pieces of rock fall from the top and they bounce off me and my bike before falling to the ground.

At least they would have hit my bike to my right if I didn't catch the one heading for it. A rock hitting the metal frame of a motorcycle tends to make a different sound than hitting the dirt itself. I wait a few more seconds in case of anymore movement but the steps recede. Slowly and quietly, I move to the right, past my bike and very carefully peek past the rock to see where they are. To my relief, none of them are staring at my direction and I can distinguish them clearly now. The green one that was near me moves back to its friends, a yellow one, a giant red and blue one, and another that's red with white stripes on it. As I stare at them amazed by their stature and completely befuddled by their appearance in the first place, something does seem odd to me. _'Wait… one, two, three… four?'_ I mentally count how many there are. "Where's the fifth one?"

"Eh-hem."

My body freezes and tenses up completely at the female voice. The rock in my hand is completely crushed and turns to powder due to my tenseness. Very slowly, I step back and turn around. Right in front of me on the left side of the rock I was hiding behind is the fifth robot creature couching and staring at me. Her colors consist of blue, silver, with pink highlights and I'm sure it's a female with the way how the body's structure looks and the voice is a dead giveaway.

"Your gonna have to come with me." She tells me.

At this point, only one thing is going through my mind:

"Crap."

Before she can react, I pull out the M1911 pistol from behind my belt and aim at her. Her eyes widen…

And I fire.

*Bang*Bang*Bang*

 **(Cover Image does not belong to me.) I was very surprised the first time I saw this episode people. Like seriously, it looked cool to begin with but to top it all off, they killed an Autobot off on the FIRST episode! And in a sort of brutal way too.**

 **After that, I immediately started coming up with ideas on how best a human would be able to help out the Autobots in combat. Jack, Miko and Raf are alright but I was hoping for a more on par form of action with the Decepticons on a regular basis. Ideas are still coming through and I'm super excited to show you guys what I got planned. The series is kind of over unfortunately but that also means I don't have to worry about any surprises from new episodes. This story will follow roughly the same storyline as the show itself but will have some changes here and there.**

 **In any case, I hope things go well for this and I wish you all a good day, and have fun reading.**


	2. 1 On the Run

"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcraaaap!" I shout to myself over the howling winds rushing by me. Right now I am driving like a bat out of hell down the road and as far away from those things as I can, which unfortunately is not that far. Once I am on a nice straightaway, I look back to see them gaining on me. At first I was expecting to outdrive them but when I heard that familiar transforming noise, I was really surprised to see that they all transformed into vehicles and gained after me. The motorcycle was especially gaining after me, most likely since I shot her.

Admittedly, shooting a free-will able robot taller than me and could cave in my rib cage with a single punch or kick was not the best move I'll admit, but it was the only thing I could think of in the one second of thinking that was going through my head when I saw her staring at me.

* * *

 _*Bang*Bang*Bang*_

" _Argh!" Arcee cries out in pain as the bullets impact her face, forcing her to fall back and clutch her face._

" _Arcee!" Optimus calls out her name in worry and runs forward to check on her. The rest of the Autobots follow as well to see what happened to their teammate._

 _Mason, after firing, holsters his gun and jumps on his bike. He hears the others coming to aid their comrade and as soon as they get close, he turns on his bike with a loud roar and hits the gas. His tire peels out for a second before gaining traction and he speeds out from behind the rock._

" _What the—" Bulkhead says in surprise at the fleeing motorcycle._

" _Arcee, are you okay?" Rachet asks her while kneeling down. She quickly pushes him and the others off._

" _I'm fine I'm fine! It was that human!" She says as she points to the retreating form of the human._

"The human _?" Bumblebee beeps his question to everyone._

" _He knows of our existence. We have to stop him." Optimus tells his team._

" _With pleasure." Arcee mutters with a smile and transforms into her motorcycle form._

" _Arcee wait!" Ratchet begins to say in order to check her for any damage but she peels out and takes off after the human. "Urrrr! So stubborn."_

" _Autobots, roll out and catch that human!" Optimus orders and simultaneously all of them transform into their respective vehicle forms and take off after their friend and her target._

* * *

' _This will not end well.'_ I can't help but think in my head as I speed down the winding roads. Various lifts and dips come up on the road and it takes some careful maneuvering in order to not crash but keep ahead of my pursuers. As the first hill comes up, I slow down a little but I still lift off the ground. I angle my bike mid-air to the left a little in the direction the road is going to. "Ugh!" I grunt as I slam into the ground but I keep the gas going and I only slide a bit before I continue driving forward again. The rest of the road goes up and down the other hills in a straight path so I don't have to do any more course corrections.

This time though, instead of slowing down, I increase my speed to the max. My engine blares very loudly and I do a wheelie as I hit the hill part. With the speed I achieved, my bike goes soaring high into the air, easily passing the next couple of hills on the road onto the straight and narrow of it. As I come back to the ground, I angle myself as best I can and to my luck, I hit the descending part of the last hill, giving me that much more control in getting back onto the road. I swerve a little as the road straightens out but I'm good to go. _'Yes! Haha! Got it! Let's see them catch up to— Crap.'_ My train of thought on my supposed victory but as I look in my rearview, the motorcycle shoots through the air even farther than I did and the rest of the vehicles come over the hill without any problem. With frustrated sigh, I try to increase my speed but I find I am going at my max. "Damn." I curse. To my horror and dismay, something yellow speeds by me. The yellow car bot thing moves in front of me and as I try to pass, it simply moves in front of me. I grit my teeth in frustration before the red and white ambulance moves in on my left, then the green truck does the same to my right. _'Oh I get it. Their trapping me.'_ Before I can stop to get out of this, the blue motorcycle moves in and rides alongside me without a driver, further proving that she is that blue bot I shot. The leader, which is a giant red and blue semi cab truck, blocks my last route of escape. _'And they did trap me. Great.'_ I tensely stare at the vehicles around me as we continue to speed along the straight road.

"Hey!" I look over at the motorcycle next to me, the source of the voice. "We just want to talk! Promise!" She tells me over the roaring winds.

"Talk?!" I balk at her. "After I shot you?! I doubt that!" I reply.

"Yeah, I wanna talk about that too!" She replies with a bit of annoyance in her tone.

"Autobots, slow down!" I hear the loud voice of the leader order from behind me. I look back at the semi behind me before looking forward and to my anger, the yellow car in front of me begins slowing, forcing me to slow as well. The others around me match the lead cars speed and it isn't gonna be long before I'm stopped completely.

' _Crap, what to do?'_ I think for a way out. Quickly looking around, I kind of hope that they mess up with their synch but I'm wrong. They work together almost perfectly. Good for them, bad for me. _'C'mon think! Theirs gotta be…'_ My thoughts trail off as I see the front tire of the ambulance to my left. I smirk before reaching behind me and aiming with my gun.

"What are you—?" The ambulance begins to question but he doesn't finish.

*Bang*Bang*

"Arrr!" He cries out as my bullets hit his tire. They don't pop but hitting the joints and the rims forces him to swerve a little, giving my opening.

"Gotcha!" I shout in triumph and swerve at the small opening. Giving my bike as much gas as I can, I jet out of the opening, out of their trap and off the road.

"How did he—?" One of them asks behind me as I leave the road and head away from them. The dirty ground off-road section is a little bumpy and its testing the shocks on my bike pretty well but its relatively smooth so I'm still able to get some distance on my would-be pursuers. Looking in my rearview mirror, I see them all going off-road after me. Unfortunately for them, the rough ground section makes the larger vehicles unable to get ahead of me but the motorcycle keeps on par with me. She speeds her way straight to me and is able to barely keep up with me.

"Persistent, aren'tcha?" I mutter and turn a bit till I'm heading to another road. The road is slightly elevated so as I turn onto the road, I go into the air slightly and my tires drift a bit on the pavement before I continue forward straight ahead.

* * *

The pursuit last another minute or two and the rest of the autobots manage to catch up to Arcee but their plans take a bit of a hit as they see where exactly they are heading.

Jasper.

A quaint town that their base is nestled close to and because of the human population close by, they have to be extra careful of any humans spotting them. However now they cannot afford to let this human run off without proper explanations when he has seen a clear picture of all the autobots. Secrecy is their biggest advantage and if the general population knew about their existence, questions can erupt from the public, panic could ensue and worst of all, their decepticon enemies could use that fear to do irreparable damage to the humans in general, as well as painting all Cybertronians in a bad light.

"Arcee do you have him?" Optimus calls to the femme bot via the radio. Him, Bumblebee, Ratchet and Bulkhead are a fair distance behind both Arcee and the human since the drive through the rough ground work slowed them significantly. Arcee however is still able to keep up with the human so they won't be losing him anytime soon.

"Yeah yeah I'm on him." She replies as she makes her holographic human disguise, Sadie, appear. As they enter the town of Jasper, it would be a bit odd to see an unmanned motorcycle chasing after a human teenager through the city streets.

"Be careful then. We are entering the city limits." Ratchet as both the two wheelers pass the first building, followed by the rest of the autobots.

"Yeah I know the drill." Arcee drones off, annoyed at having to continue to abide by the secrecy of the humans.

" _Heads up! We got an intersection!_ " Bumblebee beeps and whirs to the others. True to what he said, the long road they are driving on starts come upon an intersection of traffic lights. When they entered the town it was green so feels like the lights is due to change.

"Arcee did you hear that?" Optimus asks her.

"Yes I can see the light. Think he'll stop?" She asks out loud about the human. Her answer comes in the form of the human she's chasing revving his engine and speeding even faster. "Guess that's a no."

"You have to stop him before he gets hurt." Optimus orders Arcee.

"Sure. That would be a shame." She grumbles the last part to herself before speeding ahead of the others even further, gaining some distance on the human. They both speed ahead very rapidly as the traffic lights get closer and closer. Soon, the lights on them turn from green to yellow, then red. However the human doesn't stop. Instead he keeps his speed and leans forward, giving himself just a bit more speed. "Uhhh, Optimus? He's not stopping!" She calls back as she does what she can to keep up with the homicidal human.

"Arcee, fall back!"

"No! Hold on I'm almost there!" She replies and true, they are just a few feet away from each other.

To her and the others surprise however, an 18-wheeler semi truck comes out from the other street right in front of them, complete with a trailer carrying half-a-dozen thick cut tree logs.

"Whoa!" Arcee yelps in surprise at sudden appearance of the truck and hits the brakes hard, making her swerve and head along the back of the trailer to avoid collision.

Mason however, isn't deterred in the least bit. He keeps his speed and instead of having a face of horror, life flashing before his eyes… he smiles.

Before he hits the trailer, all the autobots can't believe their processing as their human target maneuvers his ride on its side, while in transit. He falls onto his side and in slow motion to the world, he slides under the trailer, sparks coming off the motorcycle as it slides on the paved roadway. All autobots hit the brakes hard to avoid collision with the trailer and any other cars from the other road. As the transformers all come to a stop at the light, they watch as the truck passes by and when they get a clear look at the other side, the human rights himself back onto two wheels and slides to a stop. He stops in the middle of the road and stares back at his pursuers.

Both sides stare at each other for a tense few seconds before Mason gives them a salute, and takes off driving.

None of the autobots say a thing, unsure of how to properly take what they just saw.

"Okay, I'll admit. That… was impressive." Arcee comments.

"Yep." Bulkhead agrees.

" _Uh-huh._ " Bumblebee beeps his agreement as well.

"This… may present a problem." Optimus grumbles in a disappointed tone. For as long as they've been on earth, the autobots have keep up as covert appearance as they can while living on this planet and they were successful… until now.

"Impressive or not, we have a human who saw us and knows exactly who and what we are! Our entire cover could be in jeopardy!" Ratchet yells to them all over their radio.

"Ratchet is right. Who's knows the amount of information that human could leak, especially since he was able to get away from us." From what they've seen of the humans they've observed, some of them can perform extraordinary feats but it's not every day they see one perform like the one they just saw.

"We can only hope he's not off telling someone right now." Arcee says grimly, both at the consequence of their reveal, and how the human who shot her and ratchet just got away from them.

* * *

"Ahhhhhh!" I hiss in pain as the water stings against my cuts.

"You alright kid?" A guy washing his hands asks.

"Yeah… yeah. Just some scrapes from falling on the ground." I reply as I pat dry the scrapes on my leg before pulling my pants sleeve back down and standing up.

"Hope you feel better." He says as I walk out of the bathroom.

"Yep." I reply and head back out into the restaurant. Because of that move I did with the trailer of that semi, my pants leg got lifted as it was dragged on the ground and I got a few scrapes on my leg. Soon afterwards, I hid my bike in an alleyway and went into a nearby fast-food restaurant place to wash the dirt off. KO burger I think it was called.

Regardless, as I walk out of the place, passing by another teenager I think was a couple years younger than me, I take a quick look around in case I was followed. Satisfied, I calmly walk around to the alleyway I have my stuff stashed so I can get out of here.

"Yo, man look at this stuff! Can't believe someone left this here!" I hear some voices around the corner.

"God damnit." I grumble annoyed and with a head shake as this is happening again.

"Whatever man. Just grab the bag and hotwire the bike before—"

"Can you please not steal my stuff." I tell the two sketchy looking older guys ogling my gear and ride. From what I can guess maybe early 20's but that's about all I care about.

"Oh man he's—" One of them starts but as they turn back to see me, they look confused. "A kid?"

"No way. This stuff ain't yours." The second guy says unconvinced.

"How old are you? 16?"

"18 to be exact." I answer. "And that is my stuff so please walk away." I say without a care. This isn't the first time I left my stuff alone and some guys try to come and steal it.

"Ha ha ha." The first guy lightly chuckles and calmly walks over to me. "Look kid, if you know what's good for you you'll just walk away and let us—" He goes to push my right shoulder but I move it back, making him miss completely and stumble forward a little, leaving him completely open. After bringing my shoulder back, I open the palm of my hand and thrust it forward right at his throat. "Ghk!" Using the open part of my hand between the thumb and my index finger, the guy gags as my hit chokes him a little. He falls to the ground clutching his throat and I stare at him for a second before bringing my right knee forward into his face. Without another word, he falls back in a daze.

"Joe! Alright you little—" He begins to say and advance on me with an open pocket knife but I stop him cold, in the form of me pulling out my pistol and aiming at him lazily. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Easy there kid." He stops and puts his hands in the air. "Listen, we're sorry we tried to steal your stuff and you don't need to—"

"Drop it."

"What?" He asks confused at my question.

"The knife. Now." I demand. He hesitates before letting the instrument fall to the ground. "Thank you."

*Smack*

After pistol whipping on the side of the head, he falls down unconscious to the ground. I grab his knife before pulling my bag onto my back and starting my bike up. As I roll out of the alleyway past my wouldbe muggers, I look up into the sky and notice it's starting to get dark. "Hmmm, I should probably find a hotel to sleep. It's not the best idea to go out in the dark, especially if my… pursuers are monitoring the outskirts." I rub my head a bit at the information still rolling around in my mind. _'Giant warships… giant talking transforming robots… what heck did I walk into?'_ I question in my head and head off towards the nearest most decent hotel I can find.

I should be prepared to leave town and get as much distance as I can from the last place those… 'autobots' saw me, or be prepared for anything new that might happen.

 **Starting to like how some of this is starting to come together. As I was writing the chase scene part, I couldn't help but listen to some form of chase sequence badass music that just made me feel goose bumps in imagining it in real life.**

 **Hope it was to your guys liking and as always, have a great day and have fun reading.**


	3. 2 A more Formal Introduction

"Alright, I'm well-rested, bikes fully gassed up, got some cash on me, pistols reloaded, I'm ready to get out of here." I mutter as I look at my phone. After much debate and inner turmoil, I decided that it's probably best to get out of here. If those robots have made this town their base, or at least a location they come to on a regular basis, then I should get out of dodge as soon as I can. They could have transformed to try to catch me, even in the town, but they didn't so I hope that means they are trying to keep some sort of a low profile with humans.

Guess they didn't try hard enough with me.

In any case, I'm now sitting on my bike in the parking lot of the fast food place, KO Burger, I washed my scrapes in the day before with a bag containing a burger and the soda on the ground next to me. Can't go on the run from giant robot creatures on an empty stomach now can I? As I put my phone away, I pull the burger out of the bag and quickly take a large bite from it. It's not the best but it tastes alright for now. "Not bad. Better hurry." I say as I hear a vehicle pull up next to me but I reach down instead to grab my drink. "I should get out of here soon before they find me." I say under my breath and take a sip.

"Too late."

And the paved concrete surrounding the burger place just got coated in coke. At the sound of the familiar voice, I do a spit-take, spraying the soda in my mouth all over in front of me. I cough a few times and I do what I can to regain my breathing. When I do, I breathe in and out a few times before looking to my left. "Aw crap." I mutter as I see the familiar blue Kawasaki sports motorcycle than can transform into the giant blue robot that is almost twice as tall as me.

"Yeah, crap is right." She grumbles and I see the front wheel turn in my direction. "You may have gotten away from me before but I can assure you that you won't be getting away from me again." She tells me in what sounds like a vague threat.

I look left and right to make sure no one is watching before turning back to her. "Listen, I'm sorry I shot you, okay, but it's not every day I see giant robot staring at me and asking me to come with them. So excuse me for freaking out, shooting first and ask questions later." I hiss at her lowly.

"Yeah, Optimus told me the same thing after I said I wanted to teach you a lesson for that."

"You're not filling me with reassurance here." I tell her with a deadpan look.

"Not supposed to." She replies with a hint of snark in her tone.

"Great." I grumble annoyed as I rub the bridge of my nose. With a sigh, I lean on the front of my bike, propping my head up with my arm, and look at her. "So what do you want? What's going to happen now?" I ask. If she wanted to silence me permanently without a second thought, she could have crushed me while I was distracted. Seeing as we are talking now makes me believe she wants something else, hopefully.

"I need you to come with me so we can 'properly' talk about what you saw and so you can promise to me and everyone else you WILL not go blabbing to everyone about us." She harshly but sternly tells me.

"Seriously, I—" Before I can continue a kid walks out of the burger place and pulls out his phone. The both of us shut up as he begins talking to his mom on the phone. "Act casual." I whisper to the bot motorcycle next to me. She goes still while I grab my drink again in one hand and the burger in the other, casually eating and drinking them and acting like I was not talking to a super advanced robot than can transform into a motorcycle next to me. I don't really keep track of what the kid is saying but his choice of words gets my attention.

"I love you. Uh yeah I love you too mom gotta run." And with that he hangs up and starts walking to the bot. If I wasn't staring at him through the corner of my eyes, I would have thought he said 'I love you' to his mom but from his field of view, that's not the case.

"Hello Beautiful. Where have you been all my life?" He compliments her as I take a bite out of my burger. "Ni-i-ice." I almost choke on the piece of burger as he begins caressing her.

' _Holy crap man. You have no idea what exactly you are doing.'_ I think as I suppress a giggle and instead let it out in my mind.

"It may take a few KO paychecks, but someday I am going to own a ride like you someday." He dreamily says as he gets on her. _'Wow man, I don't think there's any form of money that can buy her.'_ I think as I take a sip from my drink.

"Are you talking to your motorcycle?" A couple girls come by and one of them asks him. They think it's funny because they laugh afterwards.

"My motorcycle? No, I mean, yes, yes! It's mine, but I-I'm not talking- It Was to you- I-I am." The kid begins to stammer and overall make an idiot of himself in front of the girls. I roll my eyes and take the last bite of my burger before chucking the wrapper into the trashcan. "How's things, Sierra? Take you for a spin sometime?" He tries to be smooth but the damage was already done.

My attention shifts however as I see the bot subtly shift her mirror. Seeing what's in the reflection, I glance to what's got her attention, across the way to the other side of the street are two sleek purple and black cars. Thing is they are the exact make and model as each other and they are pointed directly at us. _'What the?'_ I question in my head and narrow my eyes at the vehicles trying to see who's so interested in us.

My eyes widen as the driver seats are empty. "Oh no." I moan under my breath as the kid introduces his name as Jack Darby. Before I can do anything, the two cars suddenly shine their high beams directed on us and drive towards us. The girls run off and the bot immediately springs into action, pulling out of the lot and taking off with Jack still on her, screaming and freaking out at being on a self-drivable motorcycle. She barely squeezes past the cars but as one turns around to go after her, the other drives straight towards me. "Damn!" I curse and drop my drink before peeling out as well. I drive away from the car coming after me and head around the burger place before getting onto the road. As I do, I see the bot and Jack driving away so without much other choice, I drive straight for them. I pass by the other car chasing them and catch up to the duo. Jack is beyond freaking out at this point as he desperately clings to the motorcycle. Both cars spring forward and come up on either side of us.

"Back!" I hear the bot yell and without any argument, I hit the break as does she. Both cars hit each other instead of us and we both take off around them before turning onto another street. After that, we turn into an alleyway before stopping. Jack gets off almost immediately and backs away.

"What… are you?" He questions.

"I don't exist. Tell anyone about me and I will hunt you down." She menacingly threatens him before turning to me. "The same goes for you."

' _Well, she did already find me. Guess she's not making things up.'_ I think and nod.

"Good, now get him out of here."

"Hop on man." I order Jack to. He looks at me hesitantly but as the cars from before enter the alleyway, his doubt is gone and he hops on. "Hold tight." I warn him and I drag my tires around 180 before heading into another alleyway.

"Wha-what was that back there?" He asks frantically.

"You got me man! I'm in the same boat as you." _'Somewhat.'_ I say and think as I continue driving down the alleyway. Some engine noises behind me get my attention. Looking in my mirror, I mentally curse as I spot one of the cars coming after us.

"Uhhh, duuuude…?" I hear Jack moan worriedly behind me.

"I know, I see." I reply and get ready to ride faster when a new engine roar stops me. Readjusting my mirror, I see the bot motorcycle ramp off the car behind us before speeding towards us.

"Follow me!" She yells and speeds ahead of me.

"Hang on!" I shout to my passenger and hit the gas.

"Wait- whoa!" He shouts as I put in a burst of speed and keep up with my ally, at this point at least. We make a hard left and head onto the road before I see we are heading towards the highway. I would be relieved to see that but as we get closer, I spot many vehicles driving on the paved roadway.

Just before we get onto the busy highway, a staccato fire of what sound like sci-fi blasters erupts around us. Looking back, I see that the cars brought guns out of their hoods and are shooting at us. _'Damn, I'm too big a target here.'_ Quickly thinking of an idea, I pull up next to the bot. "Get on her." I tell Jack.

"What?" He asks like I grew a second head.

"Do it!" I order him. He looks fearful about doing it, especially since we are currently driving, but he does nonetheless with ease since the both of us are kept in sync. The bot needs a driver bar none and even though they are shooting us, I for one think a non-driving motorcycle raises some red flags. Plus if they do decide to shoot us, Jack won't be my human shield.

We make it onto the highway where it's just as busy as I thought. "Why are those guys shooting at us?!" He asks over all the sounds around us.

"I swear I didn't shoot them!" I reply and look back to see them still on our tail. "Yet." I add as an afterthought. If they continue to try to vaporize me, then I will be inclined to shoot back. My pistol isn't the only firearm I have.

"It's not you two and there is no us." I hear the bot say as we swerve left and right through the traffic. Because of our swerving, the enemy has trouble keeping up with us so we are able to keep ahead of them. Another shift of engine noise behind me makes me look to see a familiar looking yellow sports car speeding down an off-ramp towards us. He drives towards the purple and does a PIT maneuver on them, making them crash and swerve, buying us time and him getting ahead of them.

"Friend of yours?" Jack asks the bot.

"Family." Is her reply.

"No kidding." I say as we speed along. Not long after, some crashing noises emanate behind us and looking back, our backup just got thrown off the road. "Uhh, guys? Our backup just got halted."

"Scrap." I hear her mutter, presumably a curse.

Our enemies get a bit impatient with all this because as we continue along the busy highway, they start shunting people out of their way. "We need to take this someplace else!" I call out.

"Where?" Jack asks. So far the highway is still filled with cars and we'll be hard pressed to finding a good way out of here. Soon I come upon a rapidly closing blocked off road.

"There!" The bot says, saying what I'm thinking before she turns onto it. She slams through the wooden barrier with ease and I follow after her. The whole road is completely empty so we will have no problem fighting back without causalities.

As we drive down the now empty roadway, I smile at the freedom we now have. "Perfect." I mutter and pull out my pistol.

"You have a gun?!"

"What are you doing?! That's not gonna stop them!"

"Yes! And it'll buy us time for your friend to join us!" I answer their questions in order and aim back. Before the cars can open fire, I fire first.

My rounds fly through the air and impact the windshield of the cars, lightly cracking them but they continue moving. Aiming a little lower for one, I shoot at the grill of one of the cars. The bullets impact hard against it, forcing the car to waver slightly and nearly crash into it's partner. With the remaining bullets in my gun, I wait to see a clear look at my right's left most tire.

*Bang*Bang*Bang*

Firing the last of my rounds, they impact the tire and like the one I shot the other day, they don't pop but the car does jerk harshly to the side, forcing it into it's partner. Both of them crash into the metal barrier between the two lanes of the road and stop in a heap. With a satisfied smirk, I holster my gun and resume looking forward. "There. That should buy us a few."

"Nice job, I guess." I'm a little irked at her vague compliment for me but after our less than stellar first encounter, it's progress for not being on her bad side.

"Guys, we got a problem." Jack pipes up and points ahead. To my annoyance, the barrier we passed at the beginning of this turn wasn't kidding because we are rapidly coming upon a set of concrete orange barriers blocking the road for construction. No way we can crash through those with ease.

"Hang on!"

"Whoa!"

I hear her warn and Jack cry out as she speeds forward and the next thing I know, she manages to catch a small ramp piece going over the barrier, launching the both of them off the road itself. "hm, good idea." I smirk and follow her example. Aiming for the same spot she went on, I tuck myself into my bike as much as I can as I hit the ramp. I grunt a bit as I launch into the air momentarily and see just how far down below the highway is from the dirt below. I grunt again as I land on the ground and follow after the two towards the canal at the bottom. We launch off the piece of the concrete and land on the smooth flat piece of the concrete ground before both I and the both slide to a halt. Jack and I take a moment to catch our breaths but mine hitches as I spot a kid in front of us with a remote in his hand.

"Whoa." The kid says in awe. While Jack struggles to breathe from the ride of his life, I just chuckle.

"You have no idea." Jack manages to say.

"Ditto." I agree with him. Very carefully Jack gets off the bike but the sound of tires screeching gets my attention. Looking back up to where we were launched off, two pairs of headlights shine down towards us. "Great." I groan on how quickly they were able to catch back up to us. The cars drive off the pavement and head straight down towards us. Just as they launch off and before they land in the culvert with us, they transform.

Right before our very eyes, the two cars shift around mid-flight and land on the ground in their now robotic forms. The same ones that I saw back at the crater before the other ones showed. They right hands shift and I hear the tell-tale sound of blasters whirring up, ready to fire. I go to grab my other gun from my pack but the sounds of more transforming stops me. Me, Jack and the kid turn around to see our friendly bot transform into her mech form. They back up and I roll my bike out of the way as stands to her full height. "This ends here, Cons." She challenges them. We move over against the wall as the bot takes off towards them. At first I think it's stupid running straight at them when they have guns but despite her smaller stature compared to them, she moves fluidly amidst their blaster fire, dodging the shots with ease before jumping up and kicking one of them away. She rolls back and does the same to the other.

"Woah." I whisper in slight awe at the destruction she brings against these guys.

"What are they?" I hear the kid ask but I'm too focused on the fight.

"Talking cars that turn into robots… Or the other way around." Jack answers.

"Heya!" The female bot yells as she punches and kicks one of the enemies. "This! Is! For! Cliff!" She punctuates each word with a punch to its face. Unfortunately a momentarily lapse in her assault allows them to fire back. She dodges their blaster shots by jumping and somersaulting backwards repeatedly. "Aaahh!" Unfortunately her dodging wasn't the best because a shot manages to nail her in the stomach, surprising us as she is sent flinging onto her back and sliding particularly painful on the floor.

"Oh man." I groan at seeing her get taken down like that. I zip open my bag but before I can take out my gun, a set of tires punctuates the air. The three of us look up to see a familiar looking yellow car flying off the bridge. Mid-air, it transforms into a bot and crashes right onto one of them, right before delivering a right hook to the other one. I smile at how easy he took them down but as he steps back, he steps on something that crunches. Lifting his foot, its a crushed yellow RC car.

He looks down sadly at the toy before he lets out a series of beeps and looks at us. "No problem. Really." The kid says to the yellow mech. Just as he finishes saying it, a blaster shot comes out of nowhere and nails him in the chest sending him flying back onto his stomach. I wince at the damage and before he can get up, the purple mechs step on him. He turns onto his back as they both aim their blasters at him, about to execute him.

"Leave him alone!" I and Jack's eyes widen at the loud voice and we look down to see it's the kid. We look back up to see the purple mechs aiming at us now. "Please." He adds.

"Bad call." Jack tells him. The two mechs look at each other before one of them starts lumbering towards us.

"Split up!" I shout and rev my bike forward and away from the two. I expect to start getting shot but as I don't hear anything, I look back to see it still going after the others. "Damn." Quickly looking around, the blue female bot is still dazed and the yellow one is still being pinned to the ground by the other. I grit my teeth and reach into my pack before riding close to the enemy. "Hey!" I yell loudly. He looks down at me just as I pull out my double-barrel sawed off shotgun and aim right at his head. Without missing a beat, I pull both triggers, sending the 12-gauge slugs straight at its face.

*Bang!*

Both shots impact its face, forcing it step back and grips its face, allowing the yellow one to get up and push it to the ground. It looks at me for a second and lets out a couple beeps but I ignore it and aim where the others went. "Help them!" I order it, pointing towards where the other purple mech is. It nods back to me before sprinting to attack it. Satisfied with my action, my grin disappears as the one knocked down gets back up and aims at me. "Crap." I groan. Revving my tires again, I peel out on the ground before riding as fast as I can towards one of the pillars under the bridge. Almost immediately the thing opens fire on my and I almost feel the searing hot blaster shots almost hit me. Thankfully none of them do as I make it behind the pillar. The thing pins me down behind it so I get off and pin myself against the stone structure. Quickly I reload my shotgun before waiting for a lapse in the fire to shoot back.

I don't have to wait long as the blaster shots are replaced by metal punches. Using the pillar as cover, I look out to see the yellow bot engaging the both of them but is quickly getting beaten. "Now's my chance." Jumping back onto my back, I move it forward just as the yellow one is sent flying back to the blue one who finally recovered. The two purple mechs get into a combat ready stance just as yellow and blue do as well. With the perfect opportunity for a goodbye, I gun my engine out past the pillar straight between both sides. I catch a glimpse of a truck coming but my aim is focused on the purple ones that tries to kill us. As I pass in front of them, my shotgun goes off, firing two rounds, one each at both of them before I holster it in my back and head out of the culvert. Using the slanted wall as a ramp, I launch back onto the dirt ground before heading back onto the highway road and away.

* * *

After around 15 minutes of near constant driving, I finally pull into an alleyway and hide behind a large dumpster. Shutting off my bike and putting the kickstand down, I get off and lay down on the ground against the wall.

My breathing is ragged and heavy from all that transpired recently. Placing my hand on my chest, I steady myself and my breathing until I finally calm down. After a few seconds of slowly steadying my breathing, I let out one final deep breath before opening my eyes. Looking up, I find that it's starting to get dark. Letting out a groan, I lay back against the wall and my head thuds against the wall. _'It's late… darkness is starting to creep up… I fought giant robotic mech creatures.'_ I sit and lean out from behind the dumpster before looking left and right then lying against my bike. _'I can't leave now. I can't hope to just ignore this now. I opened fire on the enemy and now I'm sure I'm a target.'_ Sighing through my nose, I start to remember that female motorcycle bot that was both angry at me and actually cared for Jack and I's well-being. I smile at the thought. _'Afterall, she found me pretty easy. I can't imagine what those others guys can do. They found her too so that'll involve some problems.'_ Without many options, I get up and pull out my phone and do a search before rolling my bike out of the alleyway.

"For now, just rest… then go from there." I mutter to myself as I head to the nearest hotel.

 **This was in storage longer than I intended. These mixed writings between all my stories was a bit different than I originally thought but I think things are still going alright.**

 **I'm not sure but I think the next chapter might be somewhat small so hopefully it won't take as long to put out. Either way I hope things are going alright for you all.**

 **As always, have a great day and have fun reading.**


	4. 3 Meeting the Team

The rest of the day went past as quick as it came. Just getting a room in the nearest hotel, which was your average nothing-fancy kind of hotel, I slept like a rock and woke up kind of later in the day but nothing bad. The sky was already blue with the sun high up in the air so around noon. Now, I decided to lay low and take some time to figure out my next plan.

' _Alright, its obvious that with my actions I'm as much a part of this whether I want to back out or not. Those other kids I was with may also be targets as well considering they witnessed the whole thing. At least I hope they made it after that yellow bot went after to save them. Since I saw nothing in the news about missing boys, even if it's the next day, I'm sure their alright. Which means,'_ I look down from my perch on the rooftop towards the school in front of me. _'Chances are they might be attending school, acting like everything is cool and they didn't just see a giant robot battle.'_ As I finish cleaning my pistol, my hands freeze as another thought occurs to me. _'Or they could be at home and freaking out about the whole thing.'_ "Huh." I murmur, not really taking that point into account. "What do I do then?" I question myself as I start reassembling my gun. After I left my parents side, I decided to go ahead and get my own means of defense that won't leave anything to chance against anyone. It's nothing special like it has an epic back-story or anything, just a gun a bought. The same with the shotgun. Although I had to use a file to cut and shorten the barrels and the stocks so it can fit in my bag.

My questioning mind on how to proceed with my fellow humans who saw the ordeal has an answer to it, in the form of two familiar vehicles pulling up to the school. Holstering my gun, I lean forward and recognize the blue motorcycle and yellow car. Taking some binoculars from my pack, I look at the front entrance of the school as everyone begins filing out from the school bell going off. Almost immediately I see a pink and black haired Asian girl be in awe at the motorcycles appearance and starts what I believe is sketching the femme bot. Smirking at that, I keep an eye out for the ones I met yesterday. It doesn't take me long to spot them. The child with the remote comes out first. Not long after Jack comes out as well. He passes by the girl drawing and makes a beeline for the kid. Jack looks a little freaked and worried while the younger of the two is calm and collected. He's still especially calm when they spot a familiar looking yellow car pull up to them. After he points to the parked blue motorcycle, he gets into the yellow car without question and it drives off. Jack looks back to the motorcycle before moving away. Looking back to the motorcycle, as soon as the girl drawing takes her eyes off her, the bot slinks off without anyone noticing… well, except for me. Seeing her go after Jack, I pack up and head off the roof to catch up to them.

Heading to alleyway part of the building, I grab onto one of those drainage gutters on the corner and slide down to the ground. After grabbing my bike from its hiding place, I roll it out onto the sidewalk and look around to where they are. I spot the same blue bike make its way towards one of the other alleyways. Not wanting to tip them off, I roll myself towards the entrance and see if I can listen in.

"Relax, I just wanna talk to you." I park my bike next to the wall, lean it against and lean close to the edge as I hear the familiar female bot talk.

"Don't you mean you and your new friend?" Jack asks.

"Kid, there's a lot you don't understand."

"No, I get it, I get it. The first rule of robot fight club is you don't talk about robot fight club." I roll my eyes at the reference. "What you need to understand is that I don't want a bunch of crazy talking vehicles following me around trying to get me killed!" As Jack begins ranting, a transforming sound happens and a quick peek shows she transformed into her bot form. I look across the street to make sure she isn't spotted by anyone else but so far it's all clear.

"Look, Jack, is it? Your personal safety is exactly why Optimus Prime has requested your presence." She tells him firmly.

"Optimus who?"

"You may be in danger because you are one of the few one of the only who have ever seen us."

"Huh, I should feel so lucky." I mutter to myself.

"Yes you should!"

"OH GOD!" I yelp loudly in surprise at the close proximity voice. I trip over my foot and fall onto my back in front of the alleyway. As my heart beats a million miles a minute, I take note that the girl that just basically freaked me the hell out is the same one what was sketching the bike bot earlier. "What uh- How did- why are-" I stammer repeatedly.

"You gonna finish those sentences?" She asks me sarcastically as she steps forward and places a hand on her hip. It's enough to annoy me and get me to reorient myself.

I stand back up and am prepared to give her a piece of my mind, until I notice we both are standing in front of the alleyway. Right in front of the others. "Don't even THINK about running." I hear the bot say in a slightly angry tone. It doesn't take a genius to know who she's addressing. Very slowly, I turn to Jack and the bot and bring both my arms up in a surrendering pose. She gives a smirk at that but as she turns her head to the new girl, she sighs. "Scrap."

* * *

As it turns out, it only takes one glance really to be considered a target for these robots. Now that she's pretty much gathered all the humans who have seen her and her comrades, we now have to return to their base for proper introductions and make sure everything is all well and good. The femme bot is carrying Jack and the yellow muscle car from earlier meets us and he carries the kid while I follow along, between them since they still don't trust me. _'Understandable.'_ The girl that sort of followed and discovered us is riding on the back of me as we travel to the outskirts of the city.

"And why exactly are we taking her?" Jack asks the bot under him.

"Rules." Is her curt reply.

"Right, and him?" He asks her about me.

"The same… and on a more personal level." She grumbles.

"I said I was sorry!" I reply annoyed that she's still holding a grudge.

"How about I shoot YOU instead and see how forgiving you are!"

"You shot her?!" The girl behind me nearly screams in my ear in what I can surmount as joy.

"I-I-I-it was an in the moment thing!" I try to give a vague explanation but I shake my head. "Forget it. We'll clear things up later."

"Fine by me." The bot replies. Suddenly the yellow car lets out a series of beeps that we can't understand. "Oh shut it you." Apparently she can then.

I give smirk at the situation and rev my engine as we start to pick up more speed on the straightaway. Despite how hectic things were back at the canal, I'm not really all that deterred from this situation. I could try to run away again, but when I think about the watch list I'll basically be on for both sides of these bots, it would just be too tiring to deal with.

Plus I can't just leave these kids to the mercy of all this. I can do pretty alright for myself so the least I can do I pick a side, help my fellow humans and make sure things run smoothly. And if I have to choose a side between these autobots and those other guys that chased us, I think I'll stick to the autobots. Sure I did kind of shoot some of them, but at least they haven't asked for my head yet. _'I should also try to suck up so they don't keep hating me for shooting them.'_

We continue to drive for a bit until we come to a split leading around a large rock formation. I'm about to head off in one of the two directions but the two bots continue driving towards the rock without hesitation to stop. Jack lets out a cry of surprise at seeing where we are going. What seems like a certain crash, the rock wall actually gives way and goes into the ground. My tightening of my handlebars lessens as I relax now that it doesn't look like we are going to crash. As we go from pavement to rough rocky dirt and now smooth steel, the door behind us closes and we travel down an extra long, tall and winding hallway. "Woooaaaah." I hear the girl behind me say from behind me at the structure of the place. I can't help but be impressed by it all as well but it's nothing a few more feet ahead of us.

As we come upon the hallway, an even bigger and better large room is revealed to us. Complete with a ton of computers, chambers, doorways, catwalks, stairs and just plain looks awesome. "Coool." The kid in the car next to us moans out impressed and I am as well. The others express their amazement by the place while I just smile at it all. _'Amazing.'_

As we come to a stop in the middle of the room, our escorts transform as the red and white bot working on the computers walks next to his even larger and green friend. "I thought there were only three." The red and white one asks.

"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply." The femme bot replies.

"Not that quickly ma'am." I mutter. Not sure if it was loud enough for them to hear but they just brush me off.

"I'm Raf." The kid introduces himself. The girl meanwhile starts walking forward.

"I'm Miko." She gives us her name as well but it seems like she's more focused on the giant hulking green bot in front of us.

With a shake of my head, I decide to give my name as well. "I'm Mason."

Before we can acknowledge the swapping of names, Miko decides to give the giant bot a question. "Who are you?"

"Bulkhead." The green bot gives us his name. It fits with his physique.

"Are you a car? I bet you're a truck, a monster truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever used a wrecking ball for a punching bag?" The name may have been a harmless question but Miko responds in kind by giving a bunch more questions right after another. Bulkhead however seems slightly overwhelmed by the sudden interest and just stares blankly at her. I don't blame him though. If someone new suddenly just started asking me a ton of question, then I may be a bit off-put by it as well.

I walk up to Miko and slightly pull her back by her shoulder. "Can we try to be a bit subtle? We only just met." I warn her. She looks insulted by the idea but Jack steps up with his own question, preventing an argument.

"So if you guys are robots, who made you?"

"Tch, Oh, please." The red and white bot scoffs and says like we just insulted the ever living crap out of him.

Giant loud thuds can be heard all around us and slightly shake the ground under us. The four of us turn around and we are greeted with the final bot. As is my assumptions before, the giant red and blue mech gives off a massive radiance of power and I can only assume that this is their leader: Optimus Prime. "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. Also known as Autobots." He calmly explains to us in his commanding but fair tone.

"Wooooow." I breathe in awe. _'A different planet… I figured they were when I first saw them… but to actually hear them say it, to confirm it… wow.'_

"Okay, why are you here?" Jack asks him. I'm curious to as to why they are here in the first place.

"To protect your planet, from the Decepticons."

"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night?" The female bot reminds us of the incident.

"Right." I mutter at the memory. Definitely one for the books to remember.

"Okay. Why are they here?" Jack asks about the Decepticons.

"A fair question, Jack." Optimus says and leans down to address us at near eye-level. "In part they are here because our planet is uninhabitable. Ravaged by centuries of civil war." He grimly tell us. _'A war? Man, that's not good.'_

"Why were you fighting a war?" Raf asks him now.

"For most, over control of our world supply of energon. The fuel and life-blood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike." He answers, "The combat was fierce and endured for centuries. In the beginning I fought alongside one who I considered a brother. But in war, ideals can be corrupted. And it was thus that Megatron lost his way." He gives us a small description of what happened in their war. _'A betrayal then… sad.'_

"Is there gonna be a quiz?"

*Smack*

"Ow! Hey!"

"Shush don't be rude." I scold Miko after I jabbed her in her side.

"So what is Megatron or any of these have to do with us?" Jack asks.

"Megatron has not been seen or heard from in sometime. But if his return is imminent as I fear, it could be a catastrophic." Optimus tells us grimly.

For a second, no one says anything until I speak up. "So, basically things have been kept low-key, your fighting and all. If this… Megatron reappears, then things won't be subtle anymore. The chances of the fighting being discovered increase… by a lot, doesn't it?"

"That is correct." Optimus confirms my fears.

"Great." I groan and look away.

"And since you now know of our existence, I fear that as of last night the Decepticons know of yours."

"Got it, we spot any strange vehicles, call 911. Can we go now?" Jack impatiently says.

"Seriously?" I ask him with a raised brow. "So you WANT to call emergency services when we see giant robots fighting?" I ask sarcastically.

"Yeah and are you insane?!" Miko asks him in surprise. "I'm living a dream here in Bots-wana and I will not allow you or anyone else to shatter it!" She angrily tells him. If it wasn't evident before from her plethora of questions before she asked Bulkhead, then she really is cool with all this stuff that's been dropped on her.

"It is best that you three remain under our watch. At least until we can determine our enemies' intentions." Optimus proposes to us.

"Autobot witness protection… I'm down with that. Guys?" I ask my fellow humans. Miko gets an excited look on her face, Raf smiles but Jack remains indifferent about it.

"Optimus." Before they can voice their agreement, or reluctance, the red and white bot speaks. "With all due respect, the human children are in as much danger here as anywhere!"

"Children?!"

"Technically I'm a teena—"

"They have no protective shell!" He ignores our words and continues his disagreement. "If they get underfoot they will go Squish!" He accentuates his words by lightly stepping his foot. Well, lightly for him, a massive thud for us.

"Then for the time being, Ratchet, we must watch where we step." Optimus cautions his friend. _'Ratchet… alright then. At least now I can address him and apologize later.'_ Inner thinking aside, while he may just be saying what he's saying to get us to leave, he's not entirely wrong. One wrong step from anyone here and a human can turn into a red pancake very easily.

An alarm goes off all of a sudden, catching the attention of the bots in the room. "What's that?" Jack asks.

The yellow bot lets out a series of beeps and boops directed at us. None of us say anything as we can't properly understand what he's saying.

"Proximity sensor. Someone's up top." Raf clarifies.

"You can understand him?" I ask confused. He replies with a nod. "Nice."

"It's agent Fowler." Ratchet tells us who's coming down apparently.

"An agent?" I ask confused. _'So what their with a government agent?'_

"I-I thoght we were the only humans who know about you guys." Jack says. I was thinking the same thing but apparently not.

"Special agent Fowler is our designated liason to the outside world, as he tends to visit only when there are issues. It may be best if you do not meet him at this time." Optimus warns us.

Looking at where the elevator is, I nod my head for us who are not supposed to be here to hide under the stairs to the next floor and away from sight. We huddle behind the concrete wall flooring just as the doors open up and an angry slightly overweight African American agent walks in. "Seven wrecks, thirty four fender benders, a three hour traffic jam, and on particular note numerous reports of two speeding motorcycles of unknown make and a black-and-yellow custom muscle car!" I look back at my friends as they stare at me. I give a sheepish smile as I remember the commotion we caused. Turning back around, my heart skips a beat as I spot my motorcycle out in the open. "So, anything you care to get off your tin chassis, Prime?" Fowler asks the leader while I am mentally trying not to freak out. _'Oh crap! If he spotted us on the bridge, if he has surveillance photos of us traveling out there… Then he might know what my bike looks like!'_ I scream in my head while Optimus and Fowler continue to talk and debate.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Miko asks me quietly, most likely curious about the frantic and alarmed look on my face. While my eyes are widened, I point to where my bike is just barely being covered from view by the autobots. "Oh."

"Yes oh!" I quietly yell at them before looking directly at Jack. "If Agent Fowler has evidence of us on the bridge, he might have pictures of my ride." I explain to him. It only takes a second but Jack understands if he sees a human vehicle here that's not a transforming robot.

"Well, what do we do?" He asks all of us. While Fowler and Optimus continue to debate over the bots means of engagement, Miko begins waving her arms around frantically. We look at her weirdly until we see where she's looking and see that she's trying to get one of the bots attention.

"Hear me, Agent Fowler."

"Bulkhead!" While Optimus starts another sentence against the portly agent, Miko quietly screams the bots name. Thankfully, he slightly glances at us, not a full head turn, and I point to my bike. He spots it and his eyes widen. Looking back at me, I quickly step out of my shoes and get into a running start, ready to book it to my bike. He gets what I'm planning and nods.

"Says you."

"Hey, fleshy! Bulkhead pipes up, interrupting their conversation in favor of getting the humans attention. "Did anyone get splattered on that freeway?" He asks the agent as he moves around a little, slightly shifting his attention. "Team Prime know when to use force…" He grabs some sort of crane arm machine. _'NOW!'_ I move forward. "And how much to use." He accentuates his words by completely crushing the machine, getting all attention on him.

"Bulkhead! I needed that!" And angering one of them. While Ratchet voices his disproval of Bulkheads action, I owe the guy as I bolt forward straight for my bike. Since I took off my shoes and am running in my socks, my feet don't slam onto the ground as loud or as rough so I'm significantly much quieter. I catch the blue female bots attention and the momentary alarmed look on her face is probably going to bite me later but I focus on my objective. Grabbing the handlebars, I kick the stand up and push it as hard as I can to the other wall before they spot me.

"Enough!" With Optimus's loud word, Agent Fowler is back on the leader but it's too late to spot me. Once I'm out of sight, I let out the breath of air I was holding and calmly put the stand down again. I lay my back against the wall and look over to the others. Miko gives me a thumbs up while Jack and Raf let out their own breaths of air. "I, however, cannot." I catch the last of Optimus's sentence.

"Then do us both a favor and handle this, Prime! Under the radar. Or I will." He tells him as he walks into the elevator and says the last part just before the doors close.

"Pretty big bearings for a human." Bulkhead says annoyed at Fowlers authoritative tone on the autobots.

"Agent Fowler is concerned for his world Bulkhead, as he should be." Optimus tries to dissuade the hostility on the human.

"Forget him! What did you think you were doing?!" Almost immediately, the femme that has been angry at me since the day we met immediately shifts all attention onto me with an accusatory finger point.

With a pursed growl, I begin to explain. "I was getting my bike out of the way. You didn't see but it was just barely covered from Fowlers view by some of you guys. It would only take one glance before he would see it and get on your cases for having us here. Thankfully, Bulkhead provided the perfect distraction in order for me to get it out of sight. Thanks again Bulkhead. I owe ya."

"No problem."

"That was an incredibly risky move, Mason. If you had been caught, Agent Fowler would not have been pleased." Optimus scolds me. I look down but not before catching a knowing smirk on a certain females face and Ratchet too. "However, we all were caught by surprise by his entrance in the first place and your quick wit kept your secret. Well done."

"Pffft." I hold my head up high at the two's scoff at their leaders compliment towards me. I also give smug smile back at them while they mill about. Ratchet especially seeming interested in his terminal.

"Question?" I turn back to my human friends as they move to me with Miko having her finger up. "Why did you take off your shoes?" She asks as Raf comes up to me and hands me them.

"Thanks." I give him a nod. "If I ran with my shoes on, they would stomp and slam into the floor, giving me away. Socks are much less noisy for that." I explain as I put my shoes back on. "A little weird but it worked." I finish with a smile.

"Oh, okay then."

"Blasted Earth check!" We all look to Ratchet's outburst and see some sort of message appear on his screen as we make out way up the stairs. "Cliffjumper's signal popped back online."

"Who's Cliffjumper?" Miko asks.

"Cliffjumper?" I question at the familiar name. "One of you guys?" I ask out loud as I grip the rails now that we are almost on eye level with the bots.

"Yes, he is. Why?" Ratchet asks uninterested and not bothered to look at me as he checks the signal.

Ignoring his disdain at me, I recall the red bot I saw. "Is he… pretty beefy? Red? Tranforms into a Dodge Challen…ger?" My questions start to peter off as all the autobots start looking at me with wide optics, making shrink a little at the attention. "Bull… horns on his hood… and head?" I ask my last question.

"Yes… that's right." Ratchet confirms in disbelief.

"Wait, you saw him? What happened to him?!"

"Of course he saw him! He was there remember!"

"Hold it you two." Optimus quickly stops her and Ratchet from getting into anymore argument on the situation, or me, and walks up to me before leaning down to me eye level. Even on this elevated level, the mechs size is still intimidating. "If I recall correctly, you were there just before we were, correct?" He asks me calmly. I meekly nod. He purses his lip before standing up. "What did you see?"

After hearing his simple question, I look at everyone that's staring at me, both human and bot alike, before closing my eyes and take in a deep breath. I recall everything that happened at the scene as I lay my hands firmly on the railing. "Your friend sped past me on the road and nearly ran me off it. Later I heard some large metal clanging and crashing off the road I was on. Veering off it, I wanted to check it out because it didn't seem like human construction. Before I can see what happened, a large blue explosion shot into the air, blowing me off my bike and sending me onto the ground." Opening my eyes I look at the leader, "Your energon mine deposit, I presume?" I say as a question, and he nods. "When I shook off my daze and looked up, that's when I saw a giant black warship in the air just above." I start walking along the railing as I speak. "The thing was massive with a ton of spikes on it. I quickly hid after I heard footsteps walking towards me and saw what I couldn't believe my eyes. Giant walking articulate robots." I give Optimus a smile. "You can imagine my surprise at seeing them the first time."

"What about Cliff?!"

"Right right. Sorry. Off-topic." I apologize to the femme, I should really get her name soon. "Anyway, a few of those decepticons were walking out of the crater dragging a red bot with them. He was… pretty beat up and groaning the whole time." I say the last part sadly. If the guy I saw was Cliffjumper and he was close to them, then this news is something they will probably not want to hear.

"Oh, Cliff." She moans.

"It's alright, Arcee. If his signal came back, maybe he was just powered down to conserve his strength." Bulkhead tries to comfort her. He looks around, "Right?"

"Could be." Optimus muses before looking at me again. "From his condition, could he possibly still be alive?"

Recalling his condition, and my best comparison to a human, "It's possible. I'm not familiar with your biology but he looked beaten and bruised to the most part. From what I can tell he wasn't missing anything from his body so he might have just been subdued for capture." I also remember the giant ship that they took him onto and how it disappeared into the clouds.

"Could they have maybe, shielded their ship as well? You know to prevent you guys from finding it in the first place?" Raf asks while walking up to me. Because of his suggestion, and now that I think about it, that thing was pretty big for it to be concealed properly. A shield to stop scans and cloak it of sorts seems like the best idea for that behemoth.

"It is possible." Ratchet surmises.

"But if there's even a chance Cliff's alive…" Arcee, thank god I got her name now, leaves the statement hanging for them to answer.

Optimus nods at her and looks to Ratchet, "Ratchet, prepare sickbay. We may need it." He orders him to do, to which the Autobot nods.

"Hey!" Miko suddenly pipes up, getting the leaders attention. "What can we do?"

"Remain with Ratchet."

"Awww!"

"Ugh." While Miko is no doubt saddened by the idea of us not seeing any sort of robot beat down as she would say, Ratchet is no less happy on the assignment either. Regardless, with a few flips, switches and levers pulled, he activates something and the familiar looking green portal I saw the Autobots come out in the first place I saw them appears in a large open hole in the wall.

"Autbots, roll out!" Optimus orders his team and with a flurry of movement, all of them besides Ratchet transform into their respective vehicles and take off into the portal without hesitation. Once they completely disappear through the swirling vortex, Ratchet pulls a lever and it disappears.

"Nice." I comment.

"What just happened?" Jack asks confused. While the vortex thing is most likely a transport tunnel of sorts, I would like to know exactly what it is too.

"I transported them to the designated coordinates via the Ground Bridge."

"Ground Bridge." I mutter before shrugging. _'Interesting name.'_

"What's a ground bridge?" Raf asks.

"Ugh." Ratchet, as usual, groans at having to explain it. "A scaled down version of Space Bridge technology. Since we don't currently possess the means or the energon required for intergalactic travel." _'Oh, so this thing has the potential to transport into space. Cool.'_

"You're stuck here. On Earth." Jack surmises. At first I thought they were just visiting in order to get the energon, but if this portal machine can 'only' transport to anywhere on the planet, then Jack is right. They are stuck here on the earth. If their Civil War is as devastating as Optimus is making it out to be, then there may not be much of a home to go back to for them.

"With the likes of you, yes. But I constructed the Ground Bridge the enable travel from here to anywhere on your planet."

"Wow! Does it work for humans?" Miko asks and I'll admit, I'm curious too.

"Naturally." Yay.

"You mean I could just shoot on over and visit my parents in Tokyo?" She asks.

"Ooh now that's useful. No more ten hour plane flights." Miko shares my optimism as well.

"Within moments. In fact allow me to send you there immediately, all three of you." Ratchet proposes as he leans in close to us. Usually something like this feels like it should be a sarcastic comment, but I'm pretty sure he's not kidding.

"Watch it, Ratchet." I smile at the threatening warning that Miko gives the giant bot and walks away. He shakes his head before glancing at me. I shrug my shoulders before going to look around as well.

"Oh! Wait, uhhh, Ratchet I'm uhhh, I'm sorry." I quickly turn back and apologize to him. He stops typing on the terminal before looking at me. Under his stare, I rub the back of my head embarrassingly. "You know for… shooting you, and all… back when you guys tried to… box me in." I clarify my apology to him. The bot just stares at me before a few more seconds before returning back to his console. I scratch my head. _'Progress Mason… just make progress.'_ With that we all just mill about doing our own things for the next few minutes.

"What is this anyway?" I look up from examining the room to Miko's question.

"Broken, don't touch it." The testy bot stops her from doing just that. With a scowl, she moves over to some other equipment. "Don't touch either." She growl in frustration.

"So, is there anything here we can touch?" Jack asks him. Ratchet however doesn't bother to respond and an error message pops up on his screen. His shoulders slump at the message. For all their technological advances and appearances, their gear doesn't seem in the best state. I look around curiously. _'Now that I think about it, besides the portal, this place doesn't give off the air of super mega advancements.'_

"How come you guys are using human computers?" Raf asks walking up to Ratchet. I walk with him so I can hear as well.

"It certainly isn't by choice!" He tells us bitterly. "It was handed down from previous tenants when we inherited this former missile silo. I make modifications as I see fit. Uuuugrhh." He explains then groans as a dozen more error messages pop up. _'Missile silo? Huh. Wonder from when exactly.'_

Raf and I stare at the multiple sets of messages before he asks. "I think I can fix that." He proceeds to pull out a laptop from his backpack and starts inputting some codes. I lean over and examine him work.

"Reeally?! You know this is complex technology, don't you? I mean it isn't a child's toy." Ratchet scoffs at idea of Raf fixing his stuff but as I watch the kid work, my eyes widen in amazement.

"How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"… Wow." I say in awe at his young age and knack for electronics.

"Now try." He tells Ratchet. The Autobot looks skeptic but returns to his console either way. A second later, all the messages go away and he looks back at the kid bewildered.

"Ha!" I can't help but laugh out loud at the giant bot getting bested so easily. "Nice one man!" I compliment as I pat his shoulder. "What program did you use?"

"Ratchet!" Before I can get an answer, Optimus's voice can be heard through his computer. "Bridge us back! Use the arrival coordinates… Now!" Without missing a beat from his leaders orders, Ratchet activates the ground bridge and the vortex appears again, bringing the remaining members of the Autobot team back home… along with a blast of blue fire just following behind them. Miko, Jack and I walk up to the railing closer to the arrivals.

"Cutting it a bit close. How about Cliffjumper?" Ratchet asks his teammates. Doing a quick headcount, they came back with the same amount of people as when they left.

"What was that explosion? Was there a fight? Can we come with next time?" As usual, Miko breaks the somber mood of them by asking questions.

"Look—!" Which earns Arcee's anger as she stalks up to us.

"He-hey, Miko, let's go see what the bots hiding in their sock drawers." Jack immediately turns her away from the femme bots ire and pushes her away.

"Seriously?" Miko is annoyed at being pushed away but goes nonetheless.

"We should go too." Raf comes up to me and grabs the end of my jacket before pulling me towards the other two around the corner.

"Good idea." I agree and move with them until we are out of sight but can still hear.

"Arcee, what did you see?" Optimus asks her.

She looks down in sadness before recalling what happened, "Not Cliff. At least… Not any more. He was mutated, butchered, like something from those 'Con experiments during the war." She says before taking a step forward and almost collapses onto the ground until she grabs a nearby crate for support. The yellow bot lets out a series of beeps and boops in what I think is concern for her. "I'm fine! Just dizzy." She quickly reassures them.

"Robots who get dizzy?" Seeing as how these are advanced robots and light years ahead of humans, Miko asks the question in confusion.

"Robots with emotion."

"Robots who can die?" Raf and Jack voice their statements as well on how the Autobots are acting.

"Robots… are just like us." I say as well. The vision to us before was these guys seemed almost indestructible and powerful. Now that they seem to actually feel and know loss, they aren't that much different from humans in terms of their person.

Meanwhile, Ratchet uses some sort of scanner on Arcee to check for why she nearly collapsed. The scanners beam turns red as it crosses her hand. "What is this?"

"Don't know. Cliff was covered in it. Leaking it." After she explains, he scoops what he can of the substance for study.

"Go take a decontamination bath. Now!" He quickly orders her to go do. Without much else, she goes off to some large glass circular room to decontaminate.

"That stuff can't be good." I mutter under my breath. _'If only a tiny bit of it can make a bot dizzy like that, I can't imagine what a chunk or river of it might do.'_

"No kidding." Raf agrees with me as we all walk out from behind the wall. Jack pulls out his phone and gets an uneasy look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"No signal." Curiously, the rest of us pull out our phones as well.

"Nope."

"Nada."

"Negative." Raf, Miko and I are in the same boat as him.

"O-Optimus." Jack hesitantly calls the leader to us. "I-I hate to bug, but… No bars." He shows him the phones no signal.

"A security precaution. The silo walls isolate all radiowaves." He explains.

"Well, if I don't call my mom like now I'm pretty sure cops will be out looking for me."

' _Mom? Oh.'_ I look away as I remember my mom, or lack their of. _'I wonder what their doing right now?'_

"Have you broken a law?" However before I can muse in my head anymore about what they might be doing, Optimus leans in and almost menacingly says to Jack.

"A curfew. It's after ten p.m." Looking at my watch, he's right.

"I better get home too, or I'll be grounded for a year." Raf is in the same boat as Jack in the whole curfew thing.

"Earth customs. I hadn't considered." Optimus says before looking to Bulkhead. "But the issue of your safety remains. Bulkhead! Accompany Miko home." He orders his large green teammate.

"Awesome! My host parents will freak!" Miko exclaims ecstatically. _'I guess it's not every day you get a several ton autonomous bodyguard and want to show him off. Although I don't know how well Optimus will take that kind of exposure.'_

"And maintain covert surveillance in vehicle form." Optimus adds. _'Ah, so that's what they're so supposed to do.'_

"Curbside duty, got it."

"Awww!" Miko moans sadly at not getting to show off her new bodyguard.

I chuckle and gently pat her shoulder. "Sorry Miko, but that's the meaning of covert. Out of sight, out of mind, basically." My words do nothing alleviate her disdain.

"Bumblebee! You'll watch over Raf." Optimus orders the yellow and black Autobot with a speech problem to do. _'Alright, well at least that's the last name of theirs.'_ I smile at now knowing everyone's names. "Ratchet—!"

"Busy!" Said Autbot brushes off the order in favor of focusing on Arcee and that stuff that was on her.

"Arcee. You'll accompany Jack." Now he gives the femme her new assignment. Jack meanwhile rubs the back of his head in slight awkwardness.

"Ooh, still dizzy." Arcee gives off a vague form fake dizziness.

"You're fine. Says your physician."

"Ughh."

I smile and lightly chuckle to myself at the quick shutdown Ratchet gave Arcee.

"And I will accompany Mason."

"Wait, what?" My happy mood turns to confusion at the Autobot leaders own assignment to me.

"Awww! Lucky." Miko moans with crossed arms at me getting the literal leader as my bodyguard.

"Since Ratchet is otherwise preoccupied…" We all look as he starts tapping away on his computer a bit more frantically before turning back to me, "I am the only available choice to help safeguard you."

"Oh, well thank you sir for that, but that's not necessary." I calmly decline his offer of protection.

The leader gives me stern look before leaning in close. "While you have proven to be more… capable than the average human we have observed, I will not take the chance of a surprise attack from Decepticons at your homestead."

Before he can continue, I rub the back of my head and speak, "That's the thing sir. I don't have home really."

"Huh?" Jack asks confused. Everyone else also has their own forms of confusions on their faces.

"Yeah I uhh, I've been sort of a drifter for awhile now. Just going wherever I please. So when you say home… so far," I point to my motorcycle with stuff on it. "That's my home."

"Life on the road. Cool." I hear Miko comment and I lightly smile at it.

"So, your parents…?" Optimus uneasily leaves the question hanging in the air.

My eyes widen at the implication I may have given and shake my head. "Oh nonono no no! No it's nothing like that. Their very much alive and well just… we aren't really on speaking terms right now. Their out of state from here in Nevada, so unless your privy to ground bridging to my former home, I'mmmm alright with staying here." After proposing that I basically stay and sleep here in the Autobot base, I straighten up. "With your permission sir!"

"Hmmm." Optimus thinks for a little bit as he contemplates my proposal. Nervously, I glance around at everyone else to see what their reactions are to this. Jack and Raf sort of give me sympathetic looks on my parents no doubt, Miko looks miffed at having to go back home and I get to stay here, Bulkhead and Bumblebee seem alright with it but Arcee just has bored look about her, or annoyance, I'm not sure. "If you don't have a proper place to call your home, then for your safety you can remain here for the time being."

"Lucky." I smile again at Miko's statement but I nod to the giant leader nonetheless.

"Thank you sir. I promise I won't get in your way." I smile give a small bow to him in thanks for letting me stay.

* * *

"Alright, I think that's good." I mutter as I look at my makeshift bed area. Using a sleeping bag I have in my possession, I gathered some blankets I have as well as some old ones previously left in the base and laid them in a corner of the main room area before placing my sleeping bag on top. Looking at my sleeping arrangements, I nod before looking at my watch and see that its after midnight. "Well, better turn in." Everyone else already took off to their respective homes along with their respective guardians. The only ones left in the base are Optimus, Ratchet and I. The giant leader already took off to power down and recharge while Ratchet was going to do some more tests on that goo that Arcee dragged in. I'm sleeping in the giant main room area with the decontamination shower, the main door and ground bridge this is the only spot I know. Maybe after awhile I can explore and find something but for now, I got something set up. I crawl in my bed and turn in for the night. "Goodnight Ratchet!"

"Yes yes, good night and all that." I chuckle as he replies to me without bothering to look away from the microscope. Making myself comfortable, I stare at the wall for a little bit before closing my eyes.

' _When I left home, I had no idea this is what I would be involved in at any point. Giant robots from space… a civil war with humans in the possible middle… and quite possibly a ton of mystery's to go on as well.'_ I smirk before letting myself drift off into sleep. _'This'll be interesting.'_

 **I wanted to make this chapter pretty long compared to the last few. I've delayed this longer than I should have and so I wanted to give you all this to somewhat make up for it. The majority of it is still primarily just simple talking but I hope I added enough conversation pieces and variations to make things interesting and keep your attention as well.**

 **A few of you also expressed ideas of shipping to go along with my character for this. Well, you don't have to worry about that. There is someone I have in mind, won't mention who, but I just have to figure out how to properly put things into words, among other situations and events as well. Like with my Steven Universe story, I kind of wing things along with the setup I already have in mind.**

 **Either way, sorry about the delay and with finals in less than a week, no school for the summer for me, I should be able to continue writing hopefully unimpeded for all of my stories after.**

 **Thank you all, have a great day, and have fun reading.**


	5. 4 Peaceful, to Bad, to Worse

**(Make sure you read the last chapter.)**

In quite awhile of being alone and on the road, the sleep I had was surprisingly well for me.

With slow movements, I sit up from my makeshift bed and promptly stretch myself, feeling my bones pop repeatedly before relaxing. "Nnn." I moan a little before getting onto my feet. It wasn't the perfect sleep mind you, I did sleep on a concrete floor with only a few layers of padding but it worked out nonetheless. I slept in my street clothes since I didn't bother changing into anything else. I did have the forsight to take off my jacket though. My watch reads it's close to ten. _'If I'm gonna stay here, I need to rework my sleep schedule.'_ Brushing that thought from my head, I walk over to my stuff and pull out some snacks for me to eat for now. _'Note to self: establish, or find, utilities.'_ I think with a mouth full.

Ratchet meanwhile is still at his little research area examining stuff, absent mildly muttering to himself. "Thank goodness for peace and quiet. Houseguests can be such a bother." He says out loud.

"Eh-hem." He freezes at my voice and turns his head to me, seeing as how I slept on the highest level of floors so I'm almost on eye level with him. I give him a coy smile. "Sorry disappoint Ratchet."

"Mmm." He lets out a growl and goes back to his research.

"Relax man, I'm just going to—"

*Clang*

I drop my food in surprise at the loud clanging noise seemingly out of nowhere. "Wha—?"

"Keep it down will you! Bad enough you're going to be living here." He mutters the last part to himself but it's loud enough for me to hear. I ignore him however in favor of moving to my bag, and grabbing both my pistol and my shotgun. Pulling both out and strapping their holsters to me, my pistol on my hip and my double-barrel on my back, I move back to the railing closest to Ratchet just as more movement is heard. This time it sounds somewhat like something scratching around. "I said keep it down!"

"Ratchet! It's not me!" I reply angrily at the accusation.

"Oh come now!" He finally turns around to look at me with an angry stare. "The others all left yesterday, Optimus is still powered down and you and I are the only ones—!"

*CLANG! TCHRATCHHH!*

An even louder clang and loud scuttling scratching can be heard far off away from us. Seeing as how he is staring directly at me, and I to him, and the sound came from somewhere else, a look of realization graces his features as he now knows it's not me. "Wha? Optimus?" He calls out, hoping it's the leader.

"I've only known him since yesterday, but I'm pretty sure that ain't Optimus." I say as I grip my pistol with both hands. Ratchet walks away from his station and I move closer to the railing to get a better look over the area. So far nothing looks out of place… but small rapid metallic taps are heard in rapid succession before revealing what's making the noise. "What the—?!"

"By the Allspark!"

Ratchet and I stare at the mechanical crawling spider that scuttles along the ground towards the Autobot. It's silvery metal that's glowing purple with what may amount to a blaster on its back. Before we can properly assess it, the thing jumps towards the bot and he manages to dodge it from grabbing him. As soon as it lands, it begins jumping all over the place and around us. As it jumps onto the railing I was next to, I fall onto my back and open fire on the abomination. I hit it the first time when it was right next to me but as it jumps away and all over the place, I keep missing. Once I run out of ammo, I quickly start reloading as Ratchet grabs some large pipe as a weapon and the thing jumps onto his workstation, and then slices his microscope in half. "I needed that!" He yells out angrily at it. If it acknowledged that he heard him, it doesn't look it as it jumps towards Ratchet's face. He quickly brings the pipe up in front of his face and holds it back as it tries to scratch his face off past the pipe. "Argh! Get off me!"

"Hold on Ratchet!" I call out as I slam in a fresh magazine and aim carefully at the thing. Once my shot is lined up, I put five shots directly on that thing. Thankfully without hitting Ratchet. As it jerks from my bullets hitting it, it turns around and jumps off of Ratchet, sending him stumbling back and right for me. "Holy—!" I gasp in surprise as it jumps high into the air at me. I quickly scramble backwards for anything to put between me and it while I holster my pistol and pull out my shotgun. A wooden pallet is going to be my makeshift shield as I slide next to one and hoist it in front of me. I am however completely unprepared for the machines force against me as it cracks the wood and nearly crushes me. The force of being slammed onto the ground also knocks my shotgun out of my hand, making it slide away from me. "Aaah!" I yelp as that the machine starts stabbing and scratching at my makeshift cover to try to get to me. I grit my teeth as I rapidly begin to become more and more exposed until its completely gone. Stabbing one last time at the wood, I bring my legs up and kick the wood towards it, forcing it back and giving me the opportunity I need. Getting to my hands and feet, I crawl towards my gun as fast as I can until it comes into my reach. Just before I can reach forward to grab my gun, two metal legs slam just above my shoulders, halting me from moving the last few inches I need. As the legs retract, I move onto my back and stare upwards at my impending doom. It rears up and prepares to stab me with both its legs. "Aaah!" I yell and bring both my arms up as a feeble attempt to protect myself.

"Rah!" A loud cry followed by a large clang of metal and a gust of air hits me a little. Peeking out from behind my hands, I don't see the thing on me anymore and is gone. Looking to the side, I see its been thrown over the railing. "You alright?" My savior Ratchet asks me while clutching his slightly bent pipe.

I take a few deep breaths before nodding. "Yeah, I am. Thanks."

Before he can respond, that same damn scratching sounds can be heard and it pops back up again. It crawls on top of the railing a little weakly before it get ready to pounce again.

*Bang*

It's then blasted off the rail and sent to the center of the room. My shotgun remains clenched in my hand with one of the barrels smoking. I let out a breath of air I was holding and let my outstretched arm fall to the ground. I get up and walk over to the stairs while Ratchet moves over to the limp rogue machine. Soon I hit the ground floor and walk over as well, my sights aimed at the machine in case it moves again and the both of us surround it.

"What's going on here?" The both of us look towards the large doorway leading deeper into the base and see the enigmatic leader himself walking towards us. As soon as he steps up to us, we stare at him for a few tense seconds, unsure of how to respond and explain what we just went through. We look at each other before looking down at our opponent.

It twitches.

*BANG*

Without hesitation, I waste the last shot in my gun and blast it. This time it does not get up. "And stay down." I growl at it.

"Optimus, this… thing came out of nowhere and attacked the both of us." Ratchet begins explaining to him. "It looks like the broken piece of equipment that Bulkhead broke yesterday but I have no idea how it came back as… that!" He says in disbelief while pointing at the broken machine.

"Hmmm." Optimus looks down at it for a bit. "I have a grave suspicion, Ratchet… Dark Energon." He tells us in an uneasy tone.

"Dark Energon? What's that?" I ask.

"Dark Energon is a powerful, dangerous, and highly corruptible source of energon that has the power to bring the dead back to life." Ratchet explains in the same uneasy tone.

"Bring the dead…?" I trail off as I stare down at the reanimated piece of equipment. "Wow, zombie robots." I breathe out in amazement that this concept is actually real. "Well, that explains it." I say as I holster my shotgun on my back.

"If the residue Arcee found on Cliffjumper brought your broken equipment to life, it would stand to reason that the very same substance brought Cliffjumper back from the dead." Optimus deduces as well.

"Hm, that would account for his life signal inexplicably coming back online, but Dark Energon?" Ratchet asks in disbelief. "It's so scarce, seems to be virtually non-existent. What would it be doing on Earth?"

"It was transported. By Megatron." Optimus says grimly. _'So he is back then. That could escalate things if they were subtle before.'_

"For what purpose?"

"To conquer this planet, by raising an army of the undead." Optimus explains.

"Oh boy." I moan and place a hand on the side of my head. "Zombies are bad. Giant robotic zombies… probably worse."

Ratchet meanwhile chuckles at the idea. "Well, Megatron would need to break quite a few toaster ovens. I mean, where on this world would he find that many cybertronian dead?"

Before we can speculate at the idea of where Megatron is going to get his zombie troopers, the sound of several engines running diverts our attention to the main doorway. Everyone finally comes back from whatever they were doing, happy nonetheless. "That was awesome!"

"Can we do it again?"

"Sweet!"

All three of the kids get off or out of their respective Autobot guards, allowing them to transform to their mech forms. A small echo thumping sound however can be heard as Bulkhead moves a little. "Uhhhh." He groans a little before pulling out a guitar case. Miko looks embarrassed at him.

"Sorry. Must have left that in the back seat." She takes it from him.

"Autobots," Optimus gets his teammates attention, "prepare to—"

"Roll out?" Arcee asks.

"Remain here." He finishes, much to their surprise. "Ratchet, you'll come with me. Arcee, we'll be outside communications range for some time so I'm putting you in charge." He orders them.

"Dude, you're the biggest. You should be the boss!" Miko however has another idea on who should be temporary leader.

"Err, he never picks me." Bulkhead replies.

"Optimus With all due respect. Plain bodyguard is one thing; babysitting's another. Besides, Ratchet hasn't been in the fields since the war." Arcee protests the idea of it all. Irking me just a little at her thinking she can take care of me. Although, as I glance at the broken wrecked purple machine, their may be some truth to that.

"My pistons may be rusting, but my hearing is sharp as ever!" Ratchet complains to the femme.

"For the moment it's only reconnaissance." Optimus tries to reassure her.

"And why do I hear an edge in your voice?" She remains unconvinced.

"Arcee, much has changed in the last 24 hours, and we all need to adapt." He says be looking towards his partner. "Ratchet! Bridge us out!" With a flick of a switch like before, the same green portal opens up and the duo travel through it. Once it turns off, there is only silence between us here.

"Okay chief, what's on the activities list?" Jack asks Arcee while I make my way to small refuse pile nearby.

"I'm going on patrol." She grumbles before walking to the main door.

"But Optimus told us to stay." Bulkhead protests.

"When you're in charge you can call the shots. 'Bee! With me!" She orders and Bumblebee reluctantly agrees. "Bulkhead, you're in charge." She and Bee transform before driving out of the base as I start rummaging through the pile. It's all just miscellaneous, junk and broken items but I smile as I find a long metal pole with a jagged point at the end.

"So, uh, what's on the activities list?" Bulkhead asks all of us, no doubt unused to be in charge of something.

"Ask trash digger over there." I hear Miko say once I grab a firm hold of the pipe. "Hey Mason! What are you doing?!"

"Just… grabbing…" I strain as I try to wrench the thing free. "Nnnnn… something!" I lightly yell once it pulls free. Once its in my hands, I glare at the former zombified robot from earlier and casually walk over to it, past my friends.

"What's that for?" Jack asks as I pass him.

"Oohhhhh, just a little… reassurance." I say in a slightly upbeat tone and twirl the pipe in my hand before twisting it around me with both hands. With some small humming to go along with it, I stop in front of the thing, plant my foot on top of its carcass, and bring my makeshift weapon high into the air with the point going downwards. "Hrah!" I yell as I thrust it downwards. Aiming at what I can guess is it's central point, into the joints and deep into it, the thing twitches wildly and sparks shoot out of it. I grit my teeth and lean into the pipe and push more into the death machine before it completely goes still. After twisting it a couple times just to make sure, I rip it out and walk away before laying it against the stairs to the top before leaning against it. "Alright, so what do we do now?" I ask.

The males all look at me weirdly, trying to figure out what or why I just broke a random piece of equipment like that, however a reverb from a guitar catches everyone attention. Looking to side, We see Miko setting up her guitar and an amplifier. "How about band practice?" She proposes.

"But we are not a band." Raf points out the obvious.

"Why so antisocial? Come on, Raf, do you play anything?" She asks him.

"Hmm keyboard?" He says as a question while holding up his laptop.

"Laptops and cymbals, good! Mason?" She asks me.

I give her a sheepish grin and a shrug, "Sorry Miko, music isn't something I'm really good with. Never touched anything close to any instrument my whole life." I disappoint her.

"Weak." She grumbles before looking at the last of us. "Jack?"

"IIIII, sometimes mess around on the harmonica." He offers. _'Not sure if that's better or worse than me.'_

"Do I look like I do country? Just cover the both of you two in fake blood and jump around screaming. Bulkhead! Percussion! We'll go for a big industrial sound. DIY, we are a band!" She happily proclaims. "You just need to learn the songs. This one's a ballad, 'My fist, your face'." Miko promptly starts playing on her guitar, plucking a ton of strings and cords that make all of us cringe and cover our ears, even Bulkhead looks affected. Not long into her playing does the alarm go off.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Bulkhead promptly stops her music. If you can call it that.

"Come one! You can't handle raw power?" She complains but he isn't listening, focusing more on the alarm going off.

"Proximity sensor. Quick, hide!" He orders us to do. Last time the proximity sensor went off, we dealt with an angry government agent. Chances are it's the same. We don't have long to try to find a spot to hide since the elevator doors ding that its stopped on our floor. We all quickly hide behind Bulkheads leg just as an incredibly angry and familiar government agent walks in.

"Prime!" He yells.

"Agent Fowler. Uh, he's not here. Nobody's here. Except me, of course." Bulkhead tries to play everything off as being cool, but he needs work. I lean up against his leg while the other crowd around out of his sight.

"Wh- where did he go?" Fowler demands but waves it off. "Wait, don't tell me, He's out pankacking a mini-mall" As Agent Fowler begins to go on a rant, Bulkhead tries to subtly move so we call can't get spotted but to my horror, it makes the cord from Miko's guitar to her amplifier to stretch and cause interference occasionally. Why she brought it, I don't know. I quickly grab the plug and pull out it before letting go, allowing the cord to slacken. "So, you tell prime—!" He stops all of a sudden. "Since when are you, 'Bots, electric?"

"Crap." I breathe out. I wasn't fast enough and the damage was already done. We've been made. I try to come up with some sort of excuse or scenario Bulkhead can try to play but I come up short. Without much of an excuse, the others come out with me hiding behind them.

"Hey! How are you doing?" Jack asks him coolly.

"Contact with civilians!" Agent Fowler gasps out in disbelief at this development. "Team Prime has really gone off rules this time. Wait, don't tell me! You are running a day-care center?" I roll my eyes at his sarcastic attitude.

"Hummmm." Bulkhead is stumped.

"We are interns."

"Student interns."

"Earning extra credits in Mechanics!"

"Robotics." Jack and Miko say the last parts at the same time. I meanwhile just let the situation play out with a head shake.

"OK Let's move!" The government agent won't have any of it and simply starts walking towards us. "I'm taking the four of you into federal custody. For your own protection."

' _Federal Custo—?'_ I gulp and glance out the side of vision to see my bike leaning against the wall. Very slowly, I slide my legs back and get ready to book it.

*Thump*

Bulkhead plants his foot right in front of the agent. "We are protecting them." He tells him. I get a relieved look on my face and relax. _'Thank you Bulkhead.'_

"Is that so? Well, maybe you can explain that to my superiors at the Pentagon!" Fowler angrily says and goes to grab a phone nearby.

"Don't use that phone! It's—" The giant autobot promptly crushes the phone with his giant finger. "Out of order."

"This isn't over, Big 'Bot, not by a long shot!" He throws the useless phone piece in his hand towards the ground and stomps off up the stairs before getting in the elevator.

"Ughhhh." Bulkhead groans at the situation we are in now.

"Great. This just got worse." I moan in annoyance.

"Yep." Miko agrees before looking at the giant bot. "Hey, thanks for not letting him take us." She thanks him.

"Eh, it was nothing. I'm sure Optimus would have done the same." He looks down at the slightly sparking phone piece. "Although, probably not as… forward."

"It got him off us though. Now we just wait to see if he really will call his superiors." I point out before heading to the stairs and sitting down. I lean against the rails and calm myself down a little at the mental preparedness I was about to do in order to run. I clench my hands to keep them from shaking before I notice Raf walking to me. "Hey Raf. You good?" I ask.

"I am. Are you?" He asks, prompting me too look at him confused.

"What do you mean? I'm alright."

"You sure? Your kind of clenching your hand really hard right now." Looking down, I notice that he's right. My hands go slack and I give him a tired smile.

"Sorry, I just… Fowler telling us he was going to take us into Federal Custody sort of put me on edge." Looking around I notice everyone is doing their own thing before I lean in close to him. "Authority and government sanctions weren't really on my preferred list when I was traveling."

"Really?" He asks surprised.

With a shrug, I give him a so-so hand wave. "Somewhat. Not something I was looking forward to." _'If he could catch that was.'_

"Yeah same here." He agrees with a head nod before smirking. "I don't know how my family would react to getting a call from the government about me."

"Hehe, yeah I can't even dream of what—"

Before I can finish another alarm goes off. Everyone covers their ears at the loud blaring noise. "My ears!" I manage to barely hear Raf through the blaring noise.

Bulkhead meanwhile walks over to the terminal and sees what's causing it. "It's an S. O. S. From Fowler." He looks like he's hesitating in activating the controls for a second, or maybe he doesn't know how to use them. The alarms shut off not long after. The rest of us go up the stairs next to him as he stands their looking weird.

"Did you trace it?" Raf asks.

"Yeah, did you find out his location?" I add.

"Location scan was incomplete. Oh, well." He brushes it off nonchalantly, much to our surprise.

"Oh well? Seriosuly?" Jack asks in disbelief. I have a similar look about me as well.

"Fowler's a jerk!" He tells us, thinking that this little bit of information is all the excuse that is needed in order to not mount a rescue.

"That's not really a good excuse not to rescue his bacon man." I say.

"Yeah, whether you like the guy or not the Decepticons may have him!" Jack says as well.

"And Agent Fowler knows your location!" Raf points out the obvious and very crucial point. "Our location." He gulps in fear.

"And did we not just witnessed how fast Fowler backs down from a 'Bot; The 'Cons will totally make him squeal!" Miko points out as well.

"Oh this is not going to be good." I moan and place a hand on the side of my head.

"But we lost the transmission. Fowler could be anywhere." Bulkhead continues to try to dissuade us but Raf and I won't have it.

"Maybe I can narrow it down." The youngest of us says as he grabs his laptop and starts inputting stuff. Getting the right idea, I grab my bag. "About five years ago the Government started microchipping their agents. You know, like owners do with pets." Everyone looks at the kid weirdly. "What? I saw it on TV. Anyway, if I can hack into the Fed's mainframe maybe I can pinpoint Fowler's coordinates."

"You know how to hack? But you're like two years old." Miko calls out his age like he shouldn't know how to do it, but it doesn't look like it from what I see on his screen.

"Twelve… and a quarter." He gives us correct age. Still young but wow does he know his stuff.

"Here. Let me help." I offer and bring up my own ways to work on my computer. "I'll create an undetected tunnel network through their main security measures. Can you piggyback off it and look for that chipping information you know?" I ask him.

"Sure."

"YOU know hacking?" Jack is now in disbelief about me now. Without taking my eyes off the screen, I give a coy smile.

"Being alone and on the road for quite awhile can make a person bored."

"So you hack government security sites for fun?" Miko asks and I shrug.

"Eh, it keeps me on my toes." _'Plus I do have a pretty high IQ if what my grades online are evidence to go by.'_

"You two are weird." Miko grumbles but I chuckle.

"Maybe, but it works." I say finally and finish cracking through my obstacles. "Alright, I'm through."

"So am I. Searching… searching…" Raf concentrates and purses his lips as he goes through the information we need. "Alright, got it!" He announces triumphantly and looks at Bulkhead. "Latitude 39.5, Longitude 116.9." With the coordinates given, Bulkhead activates the ground bridge.

"OK, wait here." He orders us before walking to the swirling vortex portal.

"Aw, don't break up the band." Miko moans out at not going while Raf and I put away our computers and we all convene on the ground floor.

"Uhhh, Mason you're in charge!"And with throwing me under the bus, putting me on the spot, he takes off through the portal before it promptly closes.

Soon after the portal closes, we stand there not sure of what to do at the moment. I'm unsure too. "Well, now what?" I ask out loud.

"Guess we four have the run of the place." Jack says. Nodding, I'm about to say something but I quickly notice we aren't four but only three. "Miko? Miko?" He notices it as well.

"Where did she go?" Raf asks looking around.

"I don't know. She was just here with us. Where could she have gone all of a su—" I freeze as a daunting thought gets into my head. At the worried makes it to my face, we all look at each other before staring at where the ground bridge was just activated. "Great." I slump.

"What should we do? Bulkhead may have not even realized she'd followed him." Raf says worried and I can't blame him. All that girl has seen is just them calm and civilized, not battle combat ready to fight to the death. She just glamorized the whole thing for herself.

"Miko hasn't seen the 'Cons in action like we have. She has no idea." Jack says and I agree.

"Your right. All she's done is just talk about it and heard stories. She doesn't know the seriousness of all this and thinks it's all fun." I add grimly before walking over to the ground bridge terminal we can access and examining it.

"Those are the coordinates. Their destination is still locked in." Raf points out from next to me.

"Perfect." I smile and start walking towards the bridge entrance. "Get the bridge working again!" I call back as I grab my makeshift spear and get ready for my journey through. Some fiddling with the controls later and they activate the ground bridge for me. "Jack, you're in charge!"

"What?! In charge of who?! Raf?!"

Before I bother to answer, I sprint on through the portal, my vision trained solely and entirely on the advanced teleporter that's going to take me to wherever that reckless girl went to.

* * *

"What's taking Arcee and Bumblebee?" Bulkhead grumbles as he and Miko hide behind a giant rock.

"Dude, the cons could be putting the clamps on Fowler right now. Let's just storm the joint!" Miko however doesn't wish for any backup and just wants to get into the action. Thankfully, Bulkhead doesn't have to answer as a familiar green swirling vortex appears not far from them but unfortunately in the open.

"They're here!" Bulkhead says in happiness at seeing his comrades appear and ready for combat. Unfortunately for him, while the person is combat ready, it's not the person he was expecting to show up. Mason sprints out of the portal and slides to a stop with a metal pipe in one hand, and his pistol in the other. He starts looking all around him in whatever direction. "Wha- What is he doing here?!" Bulkhead whispers in surprise at seeing one of the other humans here instead of his other Autobot allies.

Not long after Mason came through, Jack and Raf go through the portal as well, coming up behind Mason. He doesn't see them at first but as Raf says something, the gun toting human whirls around in surprise and starts shouting at them. "Why don't those guys hang with their own 'Bots? This is our one-on-one time." Miko grumbles at seeing her other human friends.

"Ughhh." Bulkhead meanwhile just groans at the new arrivals, and his partners obliviousness.

* * *

I'm a little dazed and everything feels weird but I make it through the portal without an issue. As soon as I step out of the green vortex's proximity and land on a dirt flooring. With my pipe in my left hand and my pistol in the right, I start scanning the area around me in hopes of finding Miko or Bulkhead. Unfortunately, there is nothing in sight besides the canyon walls, and the giant black and spiked warship I saw the first time all this started. "They took Fowler there? Things just got more complicated." I grumble to myself as the portal closes behind me.

"Whooooaaa. Are your bones vibrating?" At the new voice, I turn around and my eyes widen as I see both Jack and Raf standing behind me.

"Wha- Jack? Raf?! What are you guys doing here?!" I shout in surprise.

"What, you think we're going to let you bring Miko back alone? Pretty sure she'll fight you if you drag her back." Jack says with a smirk.

I look at them bewildered with my anger slightly starting to rise. I know how to disable and knock people out. She'll hate me when she wakes up but at least she'll be out of danger. Now I have to deal with two others as well?!

"You there!" Before I can answer, someone shouts, no doubt at us. Looking towards the direction it came from, several Decepticons are on top of the ship, looking down at us and not even bothering with an answer from us, they aim their arm cannons at us.

"Son of a—" I groan in anger and using my left arm, I steady my aim at them just as they open fire.

 **I was planning on working on a different story after I uploaded the last chapter, but a small glitch happened when I uploaded it and while the chapter was uploaded, I'm pretty sure a notification email wasn't to all of you who already had followed the story. Not wanting to leave you hanging, I went ahead and went overtime in getting this out so I can give more content, and notify you all of the previous chapters upload. I always get notified whenever I upload a chapter on any of my stories and since I didn't get one of the last chapter, I went ahead and did this. I guess you could thank the systems error for me doing this. However that also means I gotta work double time for my other stuff so sorry about that.**

 **Relief to say though, classes for college are done for me, passed them all and I have no plans to take classes in the summer so from now until the start of fall semester, I am free to work on my stories uninhibited. Expect a somewhat increase in update times for all my work.**

 **Thank you all for your continued and new support, have a great day, and as always, have fun reading.**


	6. 5 Storming the Castle

"RUN!" I yell at my friends and open fire just as the enemy does. Unless I have some very major upgrades, my pistol won't do jack against a Cybertronian from this distance but I need to keep their focus on me while the others run for cover. A massive salvo of purple and red blaster fire start raining down around me but I hold firm since from this distance, no one is hitting anything. Getting to my feet and starting to move backwards, I glance back and see that they took my advice and took off. Once I finish the last shot in my magazine, I turn tail and start bolting after them, who are heading for a giant boulder behind us for cover.

The blaster shots are centered around me but it looks like they spread out their shots to hopefully hit the others as well. A couple shots come very close to hitting me and Raf, sending me tripping onto my hands and knees, and Raf tumbles to the ground. "Raf!" I yell in worry as shots start to converge. As I get onto only one knee with my pipe being used as a crutch, Jack runs over and covers Raf with his body. "Jack!" I yell in worry as well. Thankfully, the green truck known as Bulkhead speeds around the bend and stops between the two of them and me.

"Get in, now!" I hear him yell over the sound of blaster fire. Happy to take the advice, I push myself onto my feet and go into a dead sprint straight towards him, clutching my pistol and pipe so I don't lose them.

The back door to Bulkhead opens up, revealing Miko. "C'mon! Book it man!" She waves me to move faster. Pushing myself harder, I move a bit faster as the blaster shots start to become more frequent. Not missing a beat, I launch myself off a large rock on the ground and dive for the backseat. "Oof!" Miko grunts as I almost smash her into the opposite door with my body.

"Go! Go! Go!" I yell to the truck we are in. He does what I demand and I can feel the wheels under us peel out in the dirt and takes off. The force of going so quickly shuts his door. Now that I'm not being shot at, directly, anymore, I get off of Miko and lay back against the cushioned seat, still clutching my weapons as I breathe haphazardly.

"Dude, why are you carrying that?" I look over at Miko because of her question and see the puzzled look on her face. Bringing my makeshift spear up, I look at it curiously. The action and thinking actually helps me just get over the fact that I was almost vaporized not a few seconds ago.

"I don't know." I answer, much to her annoyance. I look at it again weirdly. _'Why did I bring you?'_

"Thanks Bulkhead." Jack's thanks for the Autobot brings me from my thoughts.

"Yeah, thanks." Raf thanks him as well. Both of them are in the front seats of the truck.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Bulkhead asks us in surprise and confusion, very confused at the fact that we are here and not back at base. My thoughts are still lingering on that question with the two in the front seats.

"We were worried about Miko." Jack answers. "Have you seen her?"

"What's she look like?" Said girl pokes her head forward cutely from the question and shows them she is here.

I, however, am not amused and join her while staring at her angrily. "Shush you! You're the reason we are here in the first place!" I angrily tell her.

"Wha- but I—" Before she can finish, we are slightly jolted to the side as Bulkhead makes a hard turn and stops.

"Everyone out!" He orders us. Jack opens the driver side door and I do the same to my side before landing on the ground. Seeing where we are now, I move behind the giant rock formation Bulkhead dropped us behind and peek around the corner to spot the warship. _'Alright, on top of cover, we should be out of their range.'_ "And this time, please, wait here?" I look back to Bulkhead as he peels out and heads straight for the ship past all the blaster fire. Thankfully the Decepticons can't aim for anything since he passes under the ship without a scratch.

I let out an air of relief before looking at the others. Before I can take stock of how we are, I immediately take notice of a problem that really seems to persist. "Where's Miko?" I deadpan ask. The two of them look around as well but their casual looking turns frantic as Jack and Raf notice she is most definitely not here with us. They look at me and I look at them before we all crowd around the rock to look at the warship. Looking upwards at the top, we notice that Bulkhead has cleared them out and is looking down at us. I think he yells something towards us but we can't make it out. Next, he pulls something out of his chest and is holding something small in his giant hand. Seeing as how she ain't here with us, and pretty fond of the green autobot, that he's holding onto her right now is not that far off an assumption. "She is reeeallly starting to get on my nerves."

"Mine too."

"Just a little." Jack and Raf start to agree with me as well. Some more of our enemies seem to appear back on top of the ship, judging from the sounds, blaster bolts and the fact that Bulkhead moves further in that we can't see him. "Think they forgot about us?" Raf asks. Before either of us could answer, stomping footsteps can be heard behind us. Turning around, we are ambushed by a couple of Decepticons. I'm not quick enough to pull up my weapons and a giant clawed hand grabs me, forcing my arms against my sides.

"Mason!"

"Mason!" Both Jack and Raf call out my name in surprise at me suddenly getting manhandled.

"Grr… Grah!" I grunt as I try to wrench my arms free but he has a tight grip on me faced to him.

"Whoa!"

"Hey!"

Craning my neck around, I see that the second guy has grabbed both Raf and Jack, each in one hand. "Found more humans. Maybe these ones will be more cooperative than that other human." The one holding me says.

"What?" Raf squeals.

"Grrrr." I growl at our capturers, mentally berating myself for being caught off guard so quickly.

* * *

While Bulkhead and Miko are wherever in this god-forsaken ship, the three of us are being carried seamlessly through the dark purple and black hallways. What's worse is that the tight grip this thing has me in has my gun pressed very very VERY uncomfortably at and angle towards me. My finger is also pressed into the trigger as well and while I keep my finger as far from pressing it as I can, it isn't much. On top of that, my spear's jagged edges also presses into my leg and with a bit more pressure, I'd be drawing blood. My death stare doesn't wane the least bit as we are taken into the ship by them but the whole time they ignore me, making me even angrier.

"Let's bring them to the brig. Commander Starscream is keeping the other human there." He orders as he tightly grips me and his partners does the same with my friends. _'Starscream? Huh, guess he's the leader till this Megatron arrives. Wait, so they do have Agent Fowler. At least we know for sure now.'_ My contemplating thoughts are put on hold as the sounds a familiar cars engine greets us and to the 'Con's surprise, a yellow muscle car bashes into them from a hallway we pass, sending all of us captive sailing through the air.

My world is filled with rapid movements in all directions as I am sent tumbling to and fro through the air. My efforts to reorient myself in mid-air doesn't amount to much until I finally stop going up and gravity brings me back down to the ground. "Crapcrapcrapcrap!" I frantically say as I swing my arms around haphazardly to keep myself from tipping and landing on my back.

"Gotcha!" I manage to hear a female voice through my tumbling and I am stopped all of sudden. Unlike the large, bulky claws that were death gripping me seconds ago, the smaller slender and somewhat gentle grip of these are a welcome change, especially by the person who they belong too. Jack and I have been grabbed by Arcee while Bumblebee was able to catch Raf. Mine and Jacks' breathing are ragged from being tossed like ragdolls but we stare at Arcee nonetheless, who is giving me a smug smirk. "Always getting into trouble huh?"

"Eh." I groan at the truth behind her statement.

"Bumblebee!" Raf exclaims happily at seeing the yellow bot. The bot in turn lets out some beeps and whirs, probably centered around seeing us here of all palces.

"We appreciate you clearing the front door for us," Arcee says as she places the both of us down next to Raf and crouches. "But storming in the Decepticon warship was not on the activities list." She scolds us.

"Tell me about it." Jack replies and I nod.

"Not on our list either." I agree with him.

"Firstly though, where are the others? Shouldn't Bulkhead and Miko be with you?" She asks us.

"Bulkhead stormed this place on his own." I tell her.

"Miko… tagged along." Jack hesitantly informs her. From her expression, she's not happy with the idea that he's in here without any backup and has Miko with him as well.

"Great. This is just perfect."

"We lost them on top of the ship right before we were captured. Best guess, we look for the sounds of fighting and go from there." I suggest. At this point the two of them could be anywhere in this place and while it looks pretty massive from the outside, the layout is definitely a whole another story for us.

"Better than standing around here." She agrees as she stands up to her full height before looking at Bumblebee. "Let's get moving. We'll take point." He nods and starts moving forward but before pointing at me, "Do not do anything stupid."

With a sigh at her order for me specifically, I nod and holster my pistol. "Yes ma'am." Satisfied with my answer, she and Bumblebee start jogging down the hallway with the rest of us following behind as best we can. Raf, Jack and I have to put a bit more effort into keeping up with the alien mechs but we stay together nonetheless. As we move, I look back to my friends. "Stay behind me as a last resort." I accentuate my statement by grabbing and pulling my shotgun from my back. They tense up from my arsenal switch up but nod nonetheless.

* * *

We spend a few minutes or more moving through the twisting hallways of the warship and so far we haven't seen Miko or Bulkhead. A couple of dead Decepticons are here and there but so far we haven't been spotted either. As we get ready to go around another corner, the sounds of movement causes our guardians to halt. With a simple head gesture and nod, we all hug the wall while Arcee gets ready to engage who's behind the corner. Placing the pipe against the wall, I courch and aim in her direction to get ready just in case with Bumblebee in front of me. Compared to him, my shots may not be much but at the very least I can distract the enemy. Even a second's miss or focused attention elsewhere can mean life or death for those in combat. We tense up as she moves closer and closer to the corner until with quick movement, she pops out.

"Friendly!"

"Hello!" The voice is all too familiar and I breathe a sigh of relief. Grabbing my spear, I look at my friends and nod to the front of our group.

"Brought the humans, huh?" Arcee teases the green bot as the three of us see Bulhead and Miko fully.

"You try getting them to stay behind!" Bulkhead counters her.

With these two found and our team back together, Arcee gives us our next objective. "We need to find Fowler and get the kids out of here."

' _Fowler!'_ Looking at the others, we all have the same look before we get the Autobots attention. Once they look at us, "He's in the brig." All three of us say at the same time.

After giving them that crucial piece of information, it isn't long until we start making our way deeper into the ship where the supposed brig is. Along the way, we are ambushed by a few squads of Decepticons in the middle of a hallway, leaving us all sitting ducks in the middle. As soon as the shooting starts, Bulkhead and Bumblebee stay in front and behind us for cover while Arcee engages them directly. While the bots are good cover, being out in the open still wasn't good for anyone so I forced my friends against the side for the best solid cover we can use.

After that little firefight we went through, the bots then realized how much danger we were in so they found a side room for us. After moving in and blasting away the Decepticons working inside said room, "Clear." Arcee informs us all and we move into the room. "Wait here." Bumblebee begins to protest. "They're slowing us down and they're easy targets. They'll be alright in here, as long as they stay put." She directs the last part harshly at us. Before the three bots completely leave the room, Arcee gives me one hard and crucial stare before the door closes behind them.

All four of us are left in silence in the dark room.

"That, was intense." Miko breaks the silence.

"Was?!" Raf asks in disbelief as I take a moment to calm myself down.

"It's your fault that we're stuck in this intensity. What were you think, Miko?"

Knowing that there's going to be an argument ensuing between Jack and Miko, I tune them out and calmly breathe as best as I can. Taking a step to the side, I turn away from them, place my spear against the wall and close my eyes. Breathing in, then out a few times, as well as clenching my free hand a few times, my adrenaline and fast paced heart beating starts to lessen, allowing me to take this moment of reprieve for us.

"Stop it! Both of you!" I'm brought out of my relaxed state because of Raf's outburst. The others hear him too because their arguing stops altogether as we watch him run away from us.

"What did you guys do?" I ask them. The two of them look at each other worriedly before running off to the distraught kid without a word to me. As the two of them crouch next to him and start trying to console him, I holster my shotgun and let out a loud sigh before running my hand through my hair. "Great. Great. Just great. This is perfect." I begin muttering to myself over and over again. "Trapped on a ship. A giant… warship, filled with alien robots that want nothing more than to torture and kill us for information. We are stuck in this room with no clear way of getting out of here and the only people who can possibly protect and get us out of here are off saving someone else, and are severely outnumbered!" My voice starts to get higher and higher as I continue to list off the problems we are facing. "Not to mention there is only one of us who is equipped to fight and my enemies can't even get scratched by what I have! Rah!"

*Clang*

In a frustrated state, I toss my spear away from me and let it clang harshly on the floor away from me. I slowly rub my arms on my head before laying them against the wall and sighing. _'This… this, isn't good. I'm just kidding myself.'_ I think as I stare at the floor.

"Hey! Mason!" Looking up, I turn my head to the others to see them staring back at me. "Get over here!" Miko calls with a hand wave to me.

With nothing else to do but apparently sulk, I push myself off the wall and make my way over to them. "What'd you need?"

"You okay man? We saw you kind of... throw your pipe." Jack asks me hesitantly before looking at the discarded piece of metal.

I stare at him for a few seconds in silence before sighing and rubbing my head. "I'm fine just… just annoyed by all this is all. Was there something else?"

"Yeah," Miko says before looking elsewhere, "What do you make of that?"

"Hm." I look up to what she means and see her talk about the giant computer screen in front of us. "Wha…?" I step forward till I'm on the edge and squint my eyes to get a better look at it. "That's… a lot. Looks like some sort of schematic or blueprint."

"There's math on it too." Raf speaks up as he stands. "I know math when I see it. And that is one serious equation."

"You're right." Now that I see the numbers and measurements, equations yes… and it looks big. Real big.

"Can you guys download it?" Jack asks.

Raf and I look at each other uneasy, not sure on how to go about it. _'Download it? How? With what?'_ I think as I start looking for anything human-sized that we can use.

"I've got a flash drive." He says as he pulls out the drive from his backpack. Looking at that tiny storage device in his hand, there is just one other problem. "But I don't see anywhere to plug it in. This tech is way alien."

"Advanced or not, I don't really see Cybertronians using USB ports." I mutter. "Maybe we can—" I'm interrupted however as giant footsteps can be heard and to our horror, the door opens and another bot walks in, but not one of ours. "Hide!" I whisper to my friends to go do. We all split up, they head for the bottom of the terminal while I move just under the floor paneling that we were sitting and standing on. I press myself under it as best I can and make it so I can't be seen if it steps down between. What's weird though, is that I can hear its weapons powering up. Looking forward, my eyes widen as I spot Raf out in the open pulling on his backpack. "Raf!" I yell to him. He finally looks up to see the bot aiming down at him. He freezes like a deer in the headlights. He only starts moving when it opens fire on the kid. "Damn!" I yell and move out of cover, grabbing my shotgun taking aim at the bot as it opens fire.

*Bang*

I fire at the things face, jerking its aim enough for Jack to tackle Raf out of the things line of sight. Now though, it's aim is directed at me."Crap!" I shout and roll under the edge just as blaster bolts pepper around me. The sound around me is nothing but the loud impacts of the laser fire on metal around me. Once footsteps are added to the mix, I start moving across my cover as far as I can away from where it's going to get off so I'm not right under it. Once it steps down, it looks for me but can't find me where it thinks I might be. Not wanting it to find the others, I turn back just as I am about to round a corner and fire off another shell again.

"Miko, take a picture!" Jack yells to her. Since she's the one with a definite phone, a picture is the next best thing in order to get what's on the screen.

"Great idea!" She agrees happily and moves out of her cover. "Hey, you!"

*Click*

Unfortunately, she misconstrues just what she's supposed to take a picture of and gets the attention of the Decepticon trying to kill us before getting his picture. "Not of that! Of THAT!" Jack yells at her to take the picture of the screen. She snaps the picture but that still leaves her a sitting duck. As she turns back to the bot, her grin disappears and is replaced with horror at the blaster aimed at her face.

It starts to warm up.

"HEY! UGLY!"

*Bang*

Another gunshot rings out and sparks fly off the side of its head. Turning away from her, it looks to find me standing where he was originally when he fired with my shotgun aimed at him. Like I just challenged him, he aims his gun at me this time. Now that the fire is set at me, I quickly look around for something that I can use as cover or as a more effective. My eyes land on the spear to my right I threw earlier. _'Got nothing to lose!'_ Looking back to the bot it fires.

"Hra!" I jump to the side before the shot hits me but instead where I was standing. The force of the shots impact is by far the closest I've been shot at it and just barely miss it by the skin of my teeth. I grunt as I hit the ground. Looking up, I smile as I see that I'm right next to my spear.

"Hold still." I hear the Decepticon menacingly say to me as he primes another shot.

"Hup!" I roll forward, grabbing my spear at the same time, and as I slide on my knees, I turn around, take aim with my shotgun one-handed in my left hand at the bot, "Eat THIS!" I shout as I throw my spear like a javelin directly at its blaster arm.

My spear soars through the air as quick and as fast as I can possibly throw it, putting every ounce of my energy into it. The Decepticon doesn't bother to dodge the feeble attack and takes it…. Right in the arm.

*BOOOM!*

In a massive blast of metal and fire, the spear lodged in the barrel of its arm cannon jams it, making whatever energy that was supposed to have formed to make the shot that was meant for me blow it's entire arm off instead. The force of the explosion breaks its entire arm from the shoulder down off completely into millions of pieces and sends it sprawling onto its back. "Now's my chance!" I yell to myself and take off towards the downed Decepticon. It continues to twitch from being in such close proximity to an explosion but I manage to climb onto of it nonetheless.

"Mason!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Take him down man!"

Ignoring my friends words, I stop just below the 'cons twitching head and finish reloading my double-barrel. Once I hear the satisfying click of the barrels closing and the shells loaded, I take aim at the glass eyes in front of me.

I don't get to fire as a slight shadow looms over me. Looking back, it's remaining arm tries to reach for me. "No you don't!" I switch my aim towards the limb coming towards me.

*BANG*

Both barrels discharge right at the things wrist, tearing apart wires and internal components, making it go limp and jerk away from me. "Argh!" Unfortunately, the barrels were pressed right up against it, fracturing the barrels and sending bits of metal in my face. I groan as I grab my face with my free hand in pain. _'Damn that hurt!'_ I yell in my head. Looking past my fingers I see the bots still alive. With gritted teeth, I bring my shotgun up and start bashing the glass eyes until they crack. Once it is completely broken, I toss my shotgun away and pull out my pistol. Slamming my foot into its face, I aim directly into the v-shape broken glass and open fire.

Emptying every single round I have into the exposed internal components, sparks fly out from all over and back at me as each bullet rips through its head deeper and deeper as each round hits generally the same area. The body under me twitches repeatedly as its life slowly gets snuffed out from under me.

That thought makes me stop from firing my last round. My mouth slightly parts open as I stare at the sparking body under me.

* * *

" _Robots who get dizzy?"_

" _Robots with emotion."_

" _Robots who can die?"_

" _Robots… are just like us."_

* * *

The memory of when us humans found out just how… human, these Cybertronians are. My hands start to shake.

His head twitches.

*BANG*

The last gunshot sounds even louder for some reason as it finishes the job, ending him… permanently.

It's entire body goes slack and I am left the victor. However much that feels. With him no longer trying to kills us, my hands continue to shake as I slowly take a few steps back. Before I fall off, I turn around and as careful as I can manage right now, I slide off the corpse and hit the ground with a thud. Looking at the metallic body in front of me, the reality of me taking a life is starting to hit me with full force as I watch the blue energon liquid start to pool under him. _'Oh… god. I just… he's dead. But he tried to—! But I… He…!'_ My thoughts start to go a million miles as I continue to back away from it and my pistol falls from my hand.

"Holy cow!"

I flinch as a hand slaps my shoulder and I whirl around in surprise. Miko, Jack and Raf are next to me with the latter two looking at me worriedly and Miko is amazed.

"Dude! Your tore that bot apart! Nice one." She congratulates me while shaking my shoulder.

I don't answer or reply to her as my mouth opens and closes like a fishes, trying to formulate words that my mind is having trouble forming. "Hey." A much calmer voice calls out to me. I turn to Jack now, worry etched on his face. "You alright? Your bleeding."

His questions is accentuated by a small bit of red falling into my vision. Taking a step back, I tap my face and feel around it. Bringing my hand back, there's some blood on it, making me groan. Lightly pressing my hands at parts on my face, I find a few cuts here and there but there's a nasty gash on the side of my forehead, leaking a trail to just above my eye. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I try to reassure him as I wipe away the blood going to my eye.

"You sure about that?" He steps closer to check out my wounds but I flinch away.

"Yes! I am." I nearly shout at him. He stops moving but still has a concerned look on his face. Raf is the same and Miko is getting there since I'm not sharing her Optimism at my… kill. " I gulp and look at the body before seeing the open door and sighing. "We should get out of here. They'll come looking for him and try to find out what happened to their men here."

"Is that really a good idea?" Raf asks hesitantly, most likely worried at encountering anymore Decepticons since my actions were pretty much by chance I managed to do.

I nod nonetheless, "Yes. If this one showed up, more definitely will. We'll meet up with the others when we can but this room isn't safe anymore." I tell them firmly and begin walking to the door. "Let's go."

*Clink*

I freeze as I tap my foot against something. Looking down, it's my M1911 pistol. I stare at it for a few more seconds before slowly reaching down and picking it up. I look at it for the same few more seconds, I sigh and holster it begrudgingly. "Let's go."

Not wanting to argue, the others follow me as we clamber our way up and out the door before anymore of them can find us. We are sprinting down the hallway back where we were traveling from before since it's most likely still clear. "Hey wait!" We all stop just slightly ahead of Miko and look back to her.

"What Miko?"

"What is it now?" Jack and I ask her.

"Your shotgun! You left it back there!" She explains to us.

Raf and Jack look at me for an answer. As I remember what's back in the room, I shake my head no. "Forget about it. Your safety is more important." I reply in a low voice.

"What? Oh come one man. It's just right around the corner! Look I'll go get—"

"HOLD IT MISSY!" Before she can start jogging back to the room, I yell at her to stop. Her feet momentarily skid from the sudden stop. Looking back, her confused face turns to shock as I stalk up to her with a scowl. "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you in the first place! If you honestly think I'm about to let you go off alone AGAIN, then you have another thing coming." I move behind her, putting all three of them in front of me, and point forward. "Now go."

She stares at me in shock. "But I—"

"Now!" I shout, this time with a bit more force. She flinches at my harsh tone but concedes nonetheless. As she steps next to the others, I start walking with a bit more purpose for us to gain some ground. _'Focus on getting them out. Focus on getting them out. Focus on getting them out.'_ I repeat the mantra in my head to focus on that rather than… other things. Luckily, we won't have to go very far because the Autobots come straight down the hallway towards us. Bumblebee parks next to Raf and Miko, in which both of them climb in without hesitation, and Arcee for Jack and I.

"I told you to stay put!" She scolds us in her bike form.

"Bite me!" I reply annoyed and get on with Jack behind me. "Let's go." With all of us in or on an Autobot, we take off down the winding hallways of the Decepticon warship before coming upon an opening to the outside. I assume Fowler is inside one of the others since we aren't focused on finding him and take the chance to get out of here.

The feel of the wind against me has never felt so good.

* * *

"Aaaaaahh." I hiss as I finish pulling out the last piece of shrapnel from my face. The little pieces of metal line the bowl in front of me while I continue to inspect myself through the mirror in front of me. _'Good thing Miko found this.'_ I think as I gather up the necessary bandages for me to use. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Fowler still unconscious on the stretcher to my left. _'That too.'_

"How you feeling?" Arcee asks from my side on the ground floor. Me, Fowler and the rest of my human friends are on the second floor while the bots are still on the ground floor.

"I'll live." I mutter and begin disinfect my wounds with medical alcohol I had in my pack. Hurts like hell but necessary. Next I place bandages on the smaller cuts before using some sutures to close the small gash on my head. The type used are the kind that are able to be absorbed into the skin without harm, so I don't have to worry about infection or removing them. Once that's done, I clean myself with a towel and walk back to the others making sure Fowlers alright. "How's he doing?"

"Still loopy." Miko answers.

"Perfect." I say sarcastically. Since we saved him I was hoping we could talk and him not go to his superiors about us, but it looks like he's still out of it. _'What did they do to you?'_ I think and look over to where the recently medical officer and leader are back. Both of them look a lot worse for wear than all of us and Ratchet even has to have his arm in some sort of brace. "Geez."

"What happened to you guys anyway?" Miko asks them. I want to know to.

"We engaged an army of undead cybertronian warriors." Ratchet tells us grimly.

"Zombies? You fought zombies, and I missed it?" Miko stomps her feet in annoyance and anger at having missed that. I however am not so angry at missing it. If what these things were and were powerful enough to almost kill Optimus and Ratchet, I don't want to meet them either.

"Bulkhead, you exercised extremely poor judment in allowing the humans to accompany you. One of them was even injured because of it." Optimus scolds the green bot. At the leaders glance towards me, I look away and cover myself, not wanting to be the focus of Bulkheads punishment.

Bulkhead looks at us for a second before turning back to the leader. "It won't happen again, Optimus. I-I promise."

"But it wasn't Bulkhead's fault." Miko tries to come to the bots rescue.

"Obviously." I mutter under my breath. We may be back at base but I'm still angry at Miko for putting us all in danger like that.

"Miko, please!" Bulkhead tries to get her to stop but she doesn't.

"And check it out. Recon!" She flashes out her phone and shows Optimus the picture of the schematics we found.

"That thing better be worth it." I mutter, a bit louder this time. Optimus glances at me before leaning into her phone.

"Hmmm… Ratchet, have a look. It could be of importance to Megatron."

"Megatron?" I ask in confusion. Last time we heard that name, he was only supposed to be ghost to us. From what he's implying…

"Woah, he's back?" Jack completes my thoughts with the question. "That's really bad news, right?"

His question goes unanswered as Ratchet leans in to look at Miko's phone. His face turns into one of confusion. "IIIII… don't understand."

She and I look back at her phone to see she accidentally switched the picture to the bot I fought. I get an uneasy feeling seeing him again. "Oops!That's the 'Con who tried to blow Raf away. At least that's what he looked like before Mason busted his arm and scrambled his brains." She happily states before patting my shoulder. Instantly I feel tense as every eye looks to me.

"Wait, what?" Bulkhead asks in confusion.

"What are you getting at?" Arcee questions too.

"It's nothing. Drop it." I grudgingly say and shake off her hand as I walk away.

"Nothing?! Oohhhh, come ON!" She says in disbelief. She turns to the Autobots. "You guys should have seen him! He was awesome! He threw his spear right at the 'cons arm and BOOM!"

The image of its arm blowing up and falling onto its back flashes through my mind, making me close my eyes and cringe.

"He blows it right off and falls onto his back, giving Mason the perfect chance to finish the job."

Climbing onto his face stamps onto my mind. I place a hand to my head at the image.

"He busts his face in with his shotgun and when he's got a clear shot,"

I start to hyperventilate at the idea of me taking a life, not matter who's, starts to rear its head again.

"He takes out his pistol, aims it right into his head and—"

"STOP IT!"

She freezes from recreating the scene with her finger guns and looks to me, so does everyone else. By this point they notice that I have my back to them, hands clenched on my head and my breathing is ragged.

"Stop it! Just… stop it. I… I can't…" I almost cry out and start walking away from them before it turns into a sprint to the elevator.

"Wha- Mason!" I hear someone call my name but it's white noise to me as I slam the button for the top floor.

* * *

"Whoa. What happened to him?" Miko asks. Some of the Autobots shrug but Arcee stares at the elevator taking him to the top of their base.

"He really did destroy a Decepticon?" Arcee asks Jack, who nods.

"He did. He took him down… and killed him." Jack hesitates the last part.

' _Killed… He took out a Decepticon.'_ She thinks about the human that irritates her. For the longest time its always been the humans were too squishy and weak to them to be of any use. The idea of a human taking on a fully functional Decepticon? "Hmm." She moans before walking to the cargo elevator meant for her and her teammates.

"Arcee, where are you going?" Optimus asks.

"To talk to him." She replies without looking back.

"You? Talk to him?" Bulkhead asks in disbelief. Bumblebee is confused as well by her action.

"Yeah yeah, I know. I'm just going to go ahead and get this over with before I change my mind." She continues walking, this time a little bit faster.

A few minutes pass and machinery moves, sending her up to the top of the base, where the helipad that Agent Fowler uses to make his visits, and where the last piece of Cliffjumper is. As she comes up to the rooftop, she glances around to try and find the human. The elevators are the only way down from up here safely so unless he's willing to scale down the cliff's barehanded like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, she doesn't have to worry about him going anywhere. As dusk starts to cover the earth in its orange glow, she spots him staring out the horizon at the edge of the cliff. When she walks up to him, she notices that he's holding something in his hand. It's when she steps close enough to see what he's holding does she freeze.

The broken horn of Cliffjumper is placed firmly in his right hand as he stares at it. She is about to tell him to drop it, but the somber sad look he has on his face stops her. She continues to walking until she is staring out into the sunset. "That's Cliffjumper's you know?" She says to him without looking.

He lets out a sigh before nodding, "I got the feeling. When I first saw him, he nearly ran me off the road and I promised myself I would take his hood ornament." He replies as he continues to stare at the piece. After a few more seconds, his arm goes slack and dangles to his right. "Not like this." He mutters before looking at the sun.

After some time passes, Mason sits down with his legs over the edge, and Arcee joins him.

"He's never coming back is he?" He asks her, not looking at her. "You can't just repair him or make him a new body? He's gone for good?"

Arcee doesn't respond immediately, but she does look down in sadness before nodding. "No. We can't." She answers firmly. Her thought was originally that's what he thought they could do, just simply repair themselves like nothing from the brink of death, but the way how his shoulders slump and sag says differently. _'He killed a Decepticon.'_ That thought reminds her of his achievement. "You're not as thrilled as Miko is about what you did, are you?" She asks looking at him. He shakes his head no. "Why not? It's not like we're the same kind."

"That's not the point!" He raises his voice, surprising her. His bit of anger disappears and he goes back to being sad. "When me, Miko, Jack and Raf first saw you guys, we only thought you guys were just sentient robots fighting a war. After Cliffjumper… we realized you guys were more than just simple machines. You Cybertronians can live just like how a human can. Regardless of whether I bleed blood or you bleed energon." He states firmly. He pulls up Cliffjumpers horn and examines it from all angles. "You fight, you feel, you hurt you care worry… and bruise… and bleed…" He stops his examination. "And can die." He breathes out. He places the horn down, and frustratingly sighs as he runs his hands through his hair. "And I killed one. I KILLED someone." He breathes out as he stares at his shaking hands. "That's why I'm not thrilled about what I did because I took a life! How the hell am I supposed to feel good when I snuffed out someone's life?" He starts to yell but it drops down in volume again.

To say that Arcee is stunned would be an understatement. Never has she met a human that seemed so broken up by one of her own kinds death. Even though it was a 'con, he looks genuinely sad and broken up by it. She stares at him for a second before sighing and asking him a question, "Miko said that 'con almost blew up Raf, right?" He nods. "Then what would happen if you 'didn't' kill him?" She asks. He looks taken back by the question, but his eyes glaze left and right.

"Then… then Raf… Raf would have…"

"That's right. Raf would be gone right now. And his family might never be able to find out why." He flinches at her words. "And it wouldn't be just Raf. What about Miko huh? Or Jack?" She stares at him but he doesn't stare back. "Look at me." Her firm voice makes him hesitate to listen, but he slowly, their eyes meet. "What would have happened to them if you didn't intervene? What would have happened to you?" Her last question makes him turn away.

"I don't care about myself as much."

His statement makes her eyes widen. She stops her questioning nonetheless and look forward. "I've been doing this for awhile now. Fighting Decepticons is a full-time job and it gets tiring. For too long I've seen too many of my fellow Autobots have their spark extinguished, sometimes right in front of me. At first, I started fighting because I didn't want the Decepticons to win. Now…" She takes a moment to breathe, the memories of her partners from before flashing back to her. "Now… now I'm tired of one thing Mason." She looks at him. "You wanna know of what I'm tired of?" She asks him with a frown.

He stares at her for a bit, he too surprised at the amount of emotion she's showing to him right now. Since they've met, they were at odds, and now here she is trying to comfort him. "Of… fighting?" He guesses.

She gives him a tired close eyed no, before looking at the sunset. "I'm tired… of watching my friends die Mason." She looks at him fiercely. "And that's exactly what you would be feeling right now if you hadn't done what you did. Raf would be gone if you didn't fight and take down that 'con when you did and there is the chance of the same thing happening to Miko and Jack as well." He stares at her wide-eyed by her words as she stands back up. "The Decepticons don't just threaten my kind anymore Mason. They are a danger to yours as well and I have never heard of a human being able to take one down like you did." She says and starts walking back to the elevator, leaving him stunned in his seated position. Before she hits the button to go down, she looks at him again. "Instead of feeling bad for the life you took, you should probably think about the ones you saved."

And with that final thought, she activates the cargo elevator and heads back down to where everyone else.

Mason stares at the retreating form of the femme bot until she disappears inside altogether. Once the doors close, he looks down at the broken horn of Cliffjumper and picks it back up. He stares at the piece for a little while, his breathing getting heavier and heavier until he clenches the item firmly.

He later gets into the elevator, leaving a fully set sun… and the buried piece of Cliffjumper.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Bulkhead asks as Arcee finally returns.

"As well as you'd expect." She says a hand on her hip. Looking around, she notices someone missing. "Where's Jack?"

"He… left." Bulkhead replies with a hand rubbing the back of his head.

"Left?" She asks in confusion. She looks to Optimus for clarification.

"The toll and potential consequences of the last mission were too much for him. He said he did not want to be a part of this anymore." Optimus explains to her just what it is that Jack and how angry he was that one of his friends was almost killed.

*Ding*

Everyone looks to the elevator as it comes down to their level. As soon as the doors open, Mason comes barreling out of the elevator and runs straight for some railing to the ground floor. Going into a slide, he passes under the rail and lands on the concrete floor at the bottom. Quickly standing up, he sprints to his bike where he hops onto his bike and the engine blares to life.

"Heey! Where are you going?!" Miko asks the running kid. He doesn't reply or look back at them. Instead he guns the engine, making the tires peel out for a second before he takes off down the entrance to the outside.

No one says anything at his sudden departure. "I'm sorry Arcee." Optimus apologizes to her, assuming that her talk with him resulted in failure.

"Yeah, sorry." Bulkhead is the same.

" _Awwww."_ Bumblebee beeps his sadness at seeing another human gone. They may be in danger of being with them, but there is no doubt that these humans hanging out were fun. Especially Raf for him.

"Yes yes. A shame. So sad." Ratchet says sarcastically as he continues to examine the schematics that they obtained.

Arcee stares at the last moment she saw before he disappeared through the tunnel going to who knows where. Thing is, while it looks like he just left outright like Jack did, there is one thing that the others aren't taking into account.

She turns and looks at the bedding area he made… and his pack and supplies are still here too. "Hmmm." She purses her lips.

* * *

After some time passes, the base has been devoid of humans having to either think things through, or to go back to their lives.

The next day rolls around and it's going to be another average day for Jack working at his burger job, if his Autobot guardian wasn't waiting around the parking lot. He lets out a sigh at being back at his boring job.

"Nice bike." Jack turns around at the female voice, seeing the familiar blue and pink riderless motorcycle right behind him.

"Arcee, really. Miko already tried. Tell Optimus I respect him big time, but if you're at war with the Decepticons there's nothing I can do to help." He depressingly tells her.

"Optimus didn't send me, and no one's asking for your help." She clarifies.

"OK, so, if we both agree that I'm not warrior material."

"Jack, I just lost someone I cared about… maybe it's the grief talking, maybe you're growing on me. Whatever it is I'm just not ready to say good-bye." She tells him. It may have only been just a little while since he accidentally discovered her and her team, but there's no doubt the humans have earned a place with each of the Autobots. Now that she thinks about it, one of them has established a place all on his own. "Besides, didn't a human somehow take down a Decepticon?" She reminds him of the fact that's true. A fact that Jack did see with his own eyes.

"Well, yeah. But that's different." Jack doesn't believe he could amount to what Mason did.

"Is it? Because from where I was standing, you both look about pretty even for how humans are."

"Well… he's still older than me." He continues to try to make an excuse.

"Only by two years Jack." The both of them turn to the sidewalk, "Only by two years."

* * *

"Since Megatron is likely already in transit, I'm afraid we must take that risk." Optimus agrees with Miko at the idea of using the Ground Bridge to go into space. "Reaching the Space Bridge first is our only means of stopping him." He tells everyone the gravity of their situation. Since Megatron has come up with the grand plan to use dark energon to revive Cybertron's dead soldiers as his undead army, the space bridge is the only means that he can use to get anything to and from Cybertron to Earth. That means they need stop him from using that bridge at all costs.

The sound of a motorcycle driving, plus the honks accompanied by it, gets everyone's attention. Looking towards the main entrance of the base, they spot Arcee driving towards them with a human on her. As she comes to a stop in front of them, the human gets off and pulls off his helmet, revealing it to be Jack. "Hey, guess who's back!" He confidently states to everyone there.

Arcee transforms and smiles, "And look who we picked up." She waves a hand to the entrance as another motorcycles engine can be heard. As soon as he comes into view, everyone instantly can tell its Mason from the bike he rides, and the fact he's still not wearing a helmet but only wearing some sunglasses. Once he pulls up next to the duo, he shuts off his bike and disembarks. What's different about him now is the fact that two big cases of ammo boxes are attached to the sides of his ride, and he has two new guns to his arsenal. He places his left hand on the new Jericho 941 pistol he has in his holster. Colored black and chambered in .40 S&W bullets, it's definitely a step up from his usual 1911. In his right hand, he grabs the shotgun from off of his back and brings it down to his right.

*Ch-chick*

In one swift flip, Mason twirls his new Winchester Model 1887 shotgun. Reloading it as it spins and now having it aimed to the ceiling before laying it against his shoulder. He calmly pulls off his glasses and hooks them to the collar of his shirt.

"I figured… it was time for an upgrade."

 **I'm pretty proud of this chapter. It wasn't supposed to be this long or this emotional but the ideas just came forth and I couldn't resist making it like this. I get the feeling this may seem a little... rushed, but I'm not sure. My biggest concern was finding a point to end off of for the next chapter. In the end, I went with what you see. Hope you all like it as much as I do, or more. Things are pretty calm for me still so no worries about me having to give you guys any new delays and such. This story is really starting to come along nicely and I'm grateful for you all who have faved and followed this story so far.**

 **As you all may remember from the show, the humans will be heading to Texas next chapter and dealing with a certain mute Decepticon.**

 **Don't know what I'll have planned for that engagement but with his new gear, I'm excited to see what I come up with. I hope you all are curious the very least.**

 **Thank you all for your support, have a great day, and as always have fun reading.**


	7. 6 Infiltration

After my return to the base, the Autobots had to immediately take off since apparently they figured out just what it is those schematics we took from the ship were for.

A space bridge in space that could bring an army of zombified Cybertronians from Cybertron that Megatron is going to use to take over our planet. Seeing as how that takes top priority, everyone but us humans and Ratchet were sent into space in order to halt the Decepticons progress of their plan.

Now I have to deal with one other problem that's starting to rear its head.

"Duuuuude! Where'd you get those sweet guns?!"

' _Geez. Now I know how Bulkhead feels.'_ After everyone took off, I was getting badgered by Miko about my new armaments. Apparently my double-barrel and 1911 were generic enough that she didn't take as much interest. Now though she can't stop pestering. "When I took off yesterday, I did some thinking and contemplating, and I found a gun shop."

"You bought them?" Jack asks from the side.

I don't respond to him immediately. I stare at him for a few more seconds before looking elsewhere as I reminisce what happened.

* * *

 _The gun shop owner whistles nonchalantly as he finishes taking inventory. After another quick look around, he heads back to the front of the store as he hears the door chime open._

" _Sweet." He moves goes through another door to go to the counter in the front. "Hello! What can I interest you—… Hello?... Helloooooo?"_

 _*Click*_

 _The backdoor opens with a soft click and slowly opens but not all the way. A hand slowly reaches through the door and grasps the Winchester shotgun before pulling it through to the outside. The hand returns to grab the Jericho pistol and a case of ammo next to the door._

 _A few seconds later the ammo is thrust back in with the lid open seeing as how it's the wrong ammo. Grabbing two more cases of ammo, their just what he needs._

" _Who leaves several hundred dollar bills on the front do—?" The owner stops talking as he sees the backdoor unlocked, slightly ajar, a couple guns missing and some ammo. His arms fall slack downwards. "You—"_

* * *

I look back at Jack with a tense expression.

"Yyyyyeeeesssss." I draw out the word hesitantly.

He gives me as skeptic look but a conversation on the comm gets our attention thankfully. "Well, what are they waiting for?" We hear Arcee ask, presumably on the screen it shows the Decepticons are not moving forward and going through to Cybertron.

A moment later Optimus gives us the reason. "It appears the Decepticons have sustained serious damage to their interstellar navigation system."

"Huh, that's my handiwork." Bulkhead says.

"Oh yeah. From when we stormed their ship… out of our control." I grit out the last part towards Miko, who looks away at the memory of why we went to the ship in the first place, and not because of Agent Fowler.

"Great job, Bulkhead." Nevertheless, it was fruitful because they can't jump. Optimus compliments the green bot. "Without the dish, Megatron would be unable to aim the Space Bridge at Cybertron."

"Don't the Decepticons know where their own planet is?" Raf asks. It would seem like something they should have but something tells me it's not all that simple.

"Naturally." Ratchet says from the console. "But Cybertron is many light years away. To reach their target, their aim must be astronomically precise."

"If Megatron went to the travel of rendezvousing with his Space Bridge, he must have an alternate targeting system. A remote one." Optimus proposes.

"Hm." Ratchet scoffs. "From what I know of Earth's technology, I doubt there exists a single radio-telescope dish on this planet powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron." He doubts earth's technology. Before I can properly think of what it is they can use to find Cybertron, Raf beasts me to it.

"What about a whole bunch of linked radio-telescope dishes? Like the giant sized array in Texas?" Raf proposes. As I look at the picture I smile at the idea.

"That's perfect! No one satellite array dish could possibly find a planet light years away from here, but a whole set and a large train of them all connected could in theory find it." I back Raf's idea. Those dishes are some pretty powerful pieces of equipment and if there's anything on earth that could possibly be used to find a planet light years away, they can.

"Shh! Ap! Up!" Ratchet doesn't share our idea as he shushes the both of us. "This is not child's play!"

"Good thinking, you two." Optimus's voice praise over the radio makes me smirk at Ratchet. "Ratchet, have agent Fowler alert the array staff to the security hazard."

"You, soldier!" The sudden voice of Agent Fowler makes us look back to the man as he sits up on his gurney. "You're out the uniform! Put on some pants." And after that very confusing statement, he flops onto his back into unconsciousness.

"… That may be a challenge."

"You think?" I add after Ratchet comments. Without Fowler to call the people at the arrays and warn them, then they are free to be attacked and used by the decepticons. _'We need a new plan.'_ "Any chance we can take control of them from here?" I ask Raf. He turns back to his computer and tries to cut through the firewalls but sighs in anger. "I can't get past the array's firewalls. They're too thick."

"You? You actually think you could keep the Decepticons out?" Ratchet doubts the 12 and a quarter year old but I don't. His plan for the chip information on the agent in the first place is a lot more than any average person could possibly have got through.

"Maybe, if I could get in." He thinks before looking at me. "Maybe the both of us?" He proposes.

"Let's see." I agree and use my own computer again. After getting to where the arrays firewall is, I encounter another problem. "Great. Got another problem. It's a closed system."

"Closed? Oh no." Raf sighs sadly at the news.

"Soooo? Just open it!" Miko however doesn't know what I mean as she says.

"It's not that simple Miko." I reply and explain. "It means that the parts of the system we want to access are not accessible to the outside. We can cut through the firewall but we can't get access to the parts we need from the outside."

"Outside?" Jack asks for clarification. I nod. "So, what if we could get you two all the way in? Like 'inside-the-building' in?" Jack proposes.

At the idea, Raf and I look at each other, silently knowing what it means. "We could log into their internal network on the other side of the firewall."

"Bypassing their security measures and giving us access to all that we need." I add with a smile.

"The risk is too great." Optimus isn't really on board with the idea of us going directly to the satellite array. "The decepticons would be there. Perhaps even on sight." He grimly tells us. The idea of facing another decepticon after my last run in with them rears itself to the front of my mind but Arcee's words and advice calms me down. What Jack says next also helps accentuate that we need to do this and can't hesitate.

"Optimus, with all due respect you said it yourself, this is bigger than the safety of four humans."

"Yeah, if we let the 'Cons win, we're fragged, along with everyone else on our planet." Miko chimes in as well on how bad things are.

"… Raf?" Optimus asks the kid over the radio.

Raf looks around for a second before giving us his answer. "I wanna give it a shot."

"… Mason? You were shaken up after your fight in the decepticons war ship. Are you ready for another possible engagement?" Optimus asks me. After my sort of breakdown in front of everyone the other day and taking off like I did after Arcee helped me, it's no surprise the leader is worried about my well-being.

Taking a quick look around at everyone's faces, I pull out my Jericho and quickly pull the slide back to make sure it's working. Holstering it, I stand firm and nod. "I'm ready sir."

"Good man." I smile at the compliment that Arcee gives me over the radio.

* * *

I land outside the ground bridge portal and quickly ignore the dizzy feeling as I scan around to make sure no one's spotted me or the green portal. I don't see anyone but I do see our objective.

"Uhh, that will take some getting used to." Jack groans as we make it on site and he and the others come through after me.

"Maybe a little." I comment without looking back, instead keeping my eyes directly on the array dishes down the line.

"Whoa." Miko comments too on the human construction in front of us.

"Yep." After staring at them for a little bit, I focus my attention on the main building where all the cables and wires lead to. "That's our objective, right Raf?"

"That's right. Get us in there and we should be able to hack our way."

"Perfect." With the destination in view, I pull my shotgun off my back. "Let's go." We move forward as fast as we can to get inside.

A few minutes later, and a surprising lack of security, we finally make it to a room with a decently connected computer set up. All of us are in the darkened room and as precaution, Miko and I quickly peek out into the hallway to make sure no one or nothing is coming at us. "Security sure is lax in this place."

"No kidding." I agree with her. Once we close the door, I get an uneasy feeling. "I'm really not liking this." I say as I grip my shotgun tighter. I decide to leave the door cracked open so I can at least keep some sort of eye out. "How you coming over there Raf?" I ask him.

He doesn't respond to me immediately but eventually does. "I'm in." I smile. "And so are the Decepticons." And my smile drops as I close the door.

"What?!" Jack asks in surprise as we gather around the

"How can you tell?" Miko asks.

"Schematics. With the same alien math we saw on their ship. But this time, I can download it." He tells us with a smile as he pulls out a USB drive. _'Wow. So it seems that in order for them to find Cybertron, they have to link their schematics to the array.'_

"Nice job Raf." I compliment him. "This'll go a long way in figuring out what their doing."

"It's gotta be the Space Bridge." Miko says and as I see the schematics, she' not wrong.

"The Decepticons are syncing it to the dishes. But I can sync in with them." Raf says in a challenging tone.

"Would they know?" Jack asks Raf.

"Even if the Decepticons see that I'm in the system, they'll have no idea I'm in the house." He explains as he starts hacking his way in.

"That's good. You need some help?" I ask but he shakes his head no.

"Thanks but I got this. Just make sure no one interrupts us." He requests of me and I nod.

"Alright. I can do that." I go back to the door and crack it open again so I can keep an eye out. Several minutes pass and the only sound that can be heard is the typing of the computer that Raf is on. The strange thing is, I have not once seen anyone in this place. This is the main complex for these satellites and there should no doubt be someone here to maintain this place. _'I've got a bad feeling about this.'_ I can't help but grimly think. "How's everything going?" I call back.

"I don't know I can't make heads or tails of this." Miko grumbles, most likely annoyed at being here and not doing anything.

"I'm in, but it looks like they're locked on to Cybertron, but not for long." He says slyly and realigns the dishes away.

"Nice." I comment as I close the door and head over to him.

Some more activity happens, making Raf purse his lips in concentration. "The dishes are heading back towards Cybertron. I won't let them do that again." He makes short work of the dishes being moved.

Out of the corner of my eye however I notice the camera shifting. _'Crap!'_ I move over to where the fire safety gear is and rip the fire axe off the wall before swinging it one-handed outstretched to the camera. With a spark of wires being cut and the machine breaking, it falls off the corner of the room to the ground where I stomp on it for good measure until I am sure it can't possibly be wireless transmitting. Laying the axe against the wall, the others look at me weirdly and confused as I move back over to them. "Someone spotted us. We don't have long. Get moving Raf." I quickly warn them as I return my attention back to the screen.

"Right." He goes faster at typing on his keyboard.

"You think the 'Cons realize they're being punked?" Jack asks. I wouldn't put it past them, especially if they took control of that camera.

"It's only virtual combat, you know, like on-line gaming. Even if they saw us on the camera, it's not like they can fit in here."

"Yeah, Jack, what are the 'Cons gonna do?" Miko asks him. "They're probably like a thousand miles away." She says confidently about her answer but I have a very bad feeling about this.

*Click*

The door makes me whirl around. "Get down!" I yell loudly and see a giant metal clawed tentacle through the doorway. I fire one shot off but it only jerks slightly before it thrusts forward right at me. "Arh!" I shout in surprise at its claws grip me and slam me into the wall, making me drop my shotgun and cracking the drywall I am pinned against. Not giving it as much time, I pull out my pistol and place it right against the tentacle and open fire. The shots make the machine jerk a little but not enough to let me go.

"Hrah!" Miko and Jack come to my rescue as they jump onto the metal appendage and pull with all their might to get it off me. Because of our actions, the machine becomes enraged as it pulls me off the wall and tosses me and Jack away. Miko is left hanging on the thing for a second until she falls off. While we're dazed it quickly goes for Raf but he's one step ahead of it as he manages to dodge it by jumping onto the desk before he can get grab. After grabbing the USB drive, he gets away from it while Miko and I get back up. I slide forward to grab my shotgun and fire at it but the shots ricochet off. "Hee-ya!" Miko runs up and tries to tear it apart with the fire axe I used earlier but it dodges her and bats her away, leaving her axe to flow through the air before impacting at my feet.

"Arh!" I grunt as the appendage hits me and sends me sliding back against the wall with the others. As we look up, we stare in horror mixed surprise as it picks the axe up. "Oh come on!"

"You handed it an axe?!" Jack asks.

"Not good." Miko breathes scared at what it could do as it starts to get ready to strike.

' _Only got one shot at this!'_ I think as I bring my shotgun up to bear. I carefully aim as try to anticipate where the wooden handle is to blow off the axe. I don't have to however try to pull off a near impossible shot as Instead of it hitting us, it suddenly retreats back through the door. Not giving it as much a chance to get away, I bolt out the door and run as fast as I can after it. It retracts through the hallways before I can get a good look at it but I manage to find it going into a main server room like area. With the others right behind me, I quickly kick in the doors and move in, aiming my gun all over the place to find it. What I find however is another Decepticon much different than the ones we've faced before. It's a bit bigger and the armor appearance is much different and sharper, especially with the retracting metal tentacles that appear to be a part of it. It jumps onto the broken hole it made in the ceiling and prepares to go.

*Bang*

I fire one round into the back of its head. The machine jerks only slightly but remains unfazed. It looks back and stares at us with a faceless screen. I can hear Miko's camera phone go off behind me but I train my sights on the machines faceplate as it reflects back at us.

*Bang*

With another shot off, I hit it's glass face, fracturing it a little. It cups it's face at the shot and stares at us for a second before it transforms into a jet and takes off. With my opponent gone and nothing else of immediate threat, I sigh and let my gun hang low to my right.

"Why is he leaving? Did you scare it off?" Miko asks.

I stare at its retreating form for a second before shaking my head. "No. He could have taken us out." I look around until I spot something that makes me groan. "He finished what he came to do." I say as I point to the cut wire and axe on the ground.

Raf sighs as he sees the damage and examines it closer. "He's cut the hard-line. The dishes are locked on to Cybertron. For good." He explains grimly.

"Great." I groan and pull out my phone. Before we left, Ratchet programmed a number into my phone that I or the others can use to contact home base. "Ratchet, come in."

"I'm here Mason! What's happened?" He asks. Looking at the others, I see their downtrodden faces before laying my eyes on the sparking wires and axe. I holster my shotgun on my back and grip the axe before wrenching it from the ground.

"Bridge us back."

* * *

We make it back to base without any other difficulties. On our way out I found the buildings staff knocked out and unconscious in an empty room. Apparently they were incapacitated by those tentacles and left there to not arouse suspicion. Thankfully they didn't see us when they were waking up so we just got out of dodge and are now back at base.

"Optimus, I'm registering a rapidly expanding mass in their Space Bridge vortex. One with a peculiar energy signature." Ratchet tells Optimus over the comm. _'If it's the same signature as the one that tried to kill me and Ratchet, this cannot be good at all.'_

"Dark Energon." Otpimus replies grimly. "Ratchet, we must destroy the Space Bridge. There's enough live energon cursing through it to achieve detonation. But we lack the firepower to ignite it." Optimus explains.

"If I knew how the Space Bridge was engineered, I might find a tactical way of accomplishing that feat." Ratchet points out.

' _Know how it was engineered?'_ My eyes widen before I look over at Raf. "Raf?"

He looks at me and nods. "Um, would schematics help?" He asks the bot as he pulls out the USB he downloaded the space bridge info to.

Ratchet looks down at him for a brief second before he speaks to our leader. "Optimus, I must say the Space Bridge is our sole hope of ever returning to Cybertron. Are you certain it's destruction is the only option?" He asks him.

"I am afraid so." Optimus grimly answers back. _'The only way home for them… and they're going to destroy it.'_

"Then by all means, let us light our darkest hour." Ratchet says firmly and with conviction.

"Ratchet?" I call the Autobots name. He looks away from his console to me. "Thank you." I thank him for the sacrifice he's willing to take for my species. He stares at me for a little bit before nodding and returning to his console.

"Autobots, take your positions, and follow Ratchet's lead. While I make my stand." Optimus's voice can be heard over the comm. as he gives his orders to the others. Without much else for us to do here in the base while the fights going on in space, all we can do is monitor the computers and watch as Ratchet gives the instructions needed for them to do what needs to be done to the Space Bridge.

After a few minutes of what sounds like fighting over the radio, we see a massive horde of red dots starting to move towards the stream of the Space Bridge on our side… from Cybertron. "These things are getting closer. That's bad, right?" Agent Fowler points out the obvious.

"Obviously." I tell him with sideways glance.

"Do you have a permit for those?" He asks, pointing out my array of weapons on me.

"Are you gonna get captured again?" I ask looking at him. "Because it's because of us that we got you out of there so instead of questioning the specifics of my 2nd Amendment rights, we have a much bigger problem here." I tell him with a hand wave to the screen as the mass of red dots seems to get bigger and bigger the closer they come. I can feel Fowlers eyes boring into the back of my head but I ignore him in favor of keeping up to date on what's happening.

"Ratchet, we're in position." I hear Arcee's voice over the comm.

"Arcee, pay close attention." Ratchet begins giving instructions to her and the others. After a bit of instruction following later, the last task to complete falls onto Arcee. "Now follow the line from the flow regulator to the energon pump. There should be a valve."

"I see it."

"Good. To turn all that power against itself, all you need to do is reverse the current." He explains to her. I can hear some grunting and slight strain happening over the radio, which means she's probably trying to turn the valve.

There is a hiss on the other end. "Current reversed."

"Yes!" We all look at Fowler at his momentary cheer. "Right?" He asks at all the confused looks we give him. I shake my head and focus back on the fight.

"I'll ready the ground bridge." Ratchet says and goes over to get said bridge ready.

"Uuah!" Suddenly Arcee can be heard grunting in pain over the comm.

"Arcee!" Without Ratchet manning the controls, I jump onto the console and quickly try to get her back. "Arcee! Come in! What happened?!"

"…"

"C'mon." I groan at the lack of response. I try to scan where she is in the midst of the flurry of other signals around the Space Bridge. "Anyone else what happened to her?!"

"Arcee's been hit by Megatron!" Bulkhead replies back amidst the sound of other blaster fire.

' _Megratron! Damn!_ 'I think angrily and do what I can to find exactly where she is. After some scans and careful examining of the players at the bridge, I find her drifting in space. "Oh no."

"Optimus, the Ground Bridge is ready and waiting." I look back to Ratchet to indeed see the bridge up and ready to receive them.

"Autobots, jump!" I hear Optimus over the comm. and I quickly relay them where Arcee is.

"I've got Arcee's coordinates! Someone grab her and get through the portal now!" I yell to them. I hear what sounds like Bumblebee reply but as usual I can't understand him. I do however see the blip being Bumblebee drift towards Arcee and the two become one as they move towards the Ground Bridge portal. I hold my breath as I wait for them to disappear through it and when they do, I let out a sigh and watch as the mass of red dots starts to disappear, along with the Space Bridge.

"Are they through?" Jack asks as he comes up to me.

"I think so." I reply unsure. I saw their signatures disappear but right before the Space Bridge exploded so they either went through the portal without problem, or they did have problems. "C'mon. All we can do is wait." I tell him and go over to the railing with everyone else.

A few minutes pass and nothing has come through the portal since. Unlike bridging to anywhere on the planet, they had to make a portal to space which is a lot farther away and more complicated in setting up so I'm not surprised it's taking them just a little bit longer than necessary in getting home but it's killing me not knowing what their condition is. _'Arcee didn't sound good at all last I heard. I hope she's okay.'_ I chuckle at the thought of hoping her of all the Autobots I wish is alright. _'She did help me after all. Helped me get better after my depressed state. The least I can do is not hold a grudge anymore.'_

"Do you think they're…?" Miko lets the question hang in the air.

Ratchet pulls up the vitals monitor he has installed in his arm for the other Autobots. "Four life signals." He says while looking at the monitor in his arm. "One very faint."

"Arcee." I breathe her name. She was the one I lost contact with and heard her cry of pain. I lean over the rail in anticipation as I hear something moving through the portal. Optimus makes it through the portal and looks a little bit worn out but still well. We smile at seeing him alive and well but we still need to see the others. Bulkhead is the next to enter.

"Bulkhead!" Miko happily shouts his name and goes down to meet him.

The final to enter is Bumblebee but unfortunately he's carrying a much hurt Arcee. Jack and I walk up to see her still form in his arms. My hands clench at the idea of losing her. "We lost one this week, by the Allspark, don't let it be two." I hear Ratchet say behind us.

Jack walks up and lays a hand on Arcee's that's stretched out. I walk up next to him and to our elation her eyes open, leaving me and Jack to be incredibly relieved. "Jack, really? There are other motorcycles in the world." She tiredly jokes. I can't help but smirk at her attitude even now.

"But you're my first." He replies to her. I pat his shoulder and give him a smile, which he returns to me.

"Good to see you back up." I say to her.

"Same to you." She replies to me.

"And Megatron?" Ratchet asks Optimus.

"Not even he could have survived ground-zero." He points out. Ground zero being the exact center of the massive Space Bridge explosion.

"Prime!" We look to see Agent Fowler putting on his jacket and staring at the elevator. "I didn't get to thank you, 'Bots, for the save. I owe you one. We all do." He says with a glance backwards to us and leaves without another word on the elevator. With him gone, Bumblebee lets Arcee down onto her feet, showing that's well enough to be on her own.

No one says anything for a few seconds until Miko walks up carefully to Optimus. "So is this the part where you say good-bye and tell us we need to forget we ever saw you?" She asks. The leader in question stares at her for a bit before slowly staring at the rest of us. Us humans all wear expressions of hope that we can stay and help and the Autobots look like we've grown on them. Before long, he smiles.

* * *

Starscream is at once pleased with himself at the now firm and permanent position he has as leader of the Decepticons. His Lord Megatron may have only returned for a short while to try to resurrect his new army, and subsequently fail, but with him gone Starscream is now the only one in the Decepticon army fit to be the new leader of them. At least in his eyes he is.

After announcing his new position to everybot on the ship, they all have returned to their respective duties on the warship. Now Starscream is simply waiting and wondering where his communications officer is.

"Hmm, where is Soundwave? He should have been back by now." He grumbles to himself as he stares out at bridges window. "You there!" He points to one of the vehicons on the lower platform. He stares up at his new leader. "Search for signs of where Soundwave is! He is late in returning to base." Starscream orders the bot.

He nods at his leader before pulling up some new windows on the screen and doing a search. It doesn't take long until he finds what he's tasked to find. "He's arriving now sir."

"Excellent. Tell him to come to the bridge immediately. I wish for him to give me a full report on his mission, and to personally give him the sad news of our dear former leaders departure." He tells his subordinate in a very fake means of acting sad about the last part. Not wanting to call him out on it, the Decepticon does what he's told and sends the message to his communications officer. A minute later the doors to the bridge opens up and Soundwave walks through them to where Starscream stands. "Ahhh Soundwave. So good to see you've returned. I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news…" He begins to say but something about the bot catches Starscreams attention. "But first, may I inquire about the crack in your face plate?" He asks him outright.

The silent Decepticon in his usual state doesn't respond vocally, but he does however show a video playback of what happened. The screen goes back to the event at the satellite array. It shows Soundwave staring at the main computer before he chops the main power cord and jets onto the roof. After a slight jerk of the view, he turns around to be met with four human teenagers and one of them aiming his weapon at him. The gun barrel flashes and the next millisecond later the screen frizzes out for a second before it shows the humans again and he takes off.

Starescream scoffs at the video of what happened. "Oh please! You mean to tell me that a human was able to damage you?! Weakling!" He saunters away and heads back to the main bridge platform. "To think you were even scratched by one of those vermin!" He continues to insult him without looking back.

Soundwave ignores the insults and heads over to the one of the side terminals where the Decepticon at the terminal moves out of the way to let Soundwave connect to it and display another video.

"Maybe field work will be too much for you if you can't even handle those pesky insignificant—" Starscreams rants cut off as the screens in front of him change to a camera footage from the ship itself. It shows one of their soldiers firing at a group of humans that somehow made it onto the ship before one of them throws something at the bot and his arm suddenly explodes, throwing him onto his back.

The rest of the Decepticons in the look away from their work to see the video being played. The human runs ontop of the downed Decepticon and aims his human weapon at the bots face but he turns right around and blasts the hand that was reaching for him. Starscreams eyes widen as he sees just what this human is able to do. After gripping his face for a second, the human goes back to the bots face and instead of shooting it, he simply beats the face. Striking it multiple times with sheer ferocity until it completely breaks open. After throwing away one of his weapons, he pulls out another and opens fire directly into the central part of it's head. The room lights up with each shot fired until it stops momentarily, then once more it flashes before it ends.

Soundwave disconnects himself from the terminal and turns to their new leader. All eyes are now on him since he had a front row seat for the whole thing.

"Uhh… Eh… I… Um… Perhaps I may have… underestimated these humans." He nervously says after just being proved wrong in front of everyone.

* * *

"Without the means of leaving this world we Autobots take strength in the bonds we have forged with our four young friends. True warriors. If not in body then, in spirit. My name is Optimus Prime, and I send this message: though we did not choose to be of Earth, it would seem that we are here to stay. If you approach this planet with hostile intent, know this we will defend ourselves. We will defend humanity. We will… defend our home."

*Click*

"Superbly done sir."

"I couldn't agree more." Ratchet and I compliment the leader on his speech he gave over the open channel. Ratchet opened a wide-range receiving signal to any and all communication options deep into space. These aren't the only Autobots in the world and its possible some are out there looking for a place to call home. Since this planet is probably the only allied planet they've found in quite awhile, they have friends and allies in the native life here, it's a good starting point to hopefully rebuild the Autobot army. The message also had a threat to anyone else hoping to hurt my species and other Autobots as well. All in all, it was a good speech.

"Thank you both." He thanks us and starts walking away. "While the others are being picked up at school, I will head out and do some patrolling as a precaution."

"We'll keep things calm on the homefront and wait for the others to arrive." I say and look at my watch. Already school was let out a few minutes so chances are Jack, Miko and Raf were let out and got picked up by their respective Autobot partners.

"I will see you two later." Optimus then transforms and rolls out through the main door way.

"Well, with nothing else to do now, I think I'll go back to my scanning for Decepticon activity." Ratchet turns back to his main console.

"And I think I'll go ahead and explore this place to make sure I don't get lost in the future." I vault over the railing and start walking deeper into the base.

"Here." I look back at Ratchet typing something on his computer until a notification comes up on my phone. "I sent you a map of our base so you can better get yourself familiarized with it."

"Oh." I say as I look at the map. "Thank you."

"Your welcome." He waves back without looking so I take that as my queue to go. "Oh! And there should be some blackened out areas on the map too. Those are the rooms we weren't able to get into ourselves by either not finding the entrance, or the only entrances were human sized and we were not privy to knocking down sections of walls just to get into a storage closest. Becareful in checking them out." He explains to me.

"Gotcha!" I reply back and continue walking into the base. Looking at the map at the same time, I find a long hallway that leads to the other recharge rooms that the Autobots use to rest and recuperate. Along with that leads to other hallways that house large storage rooms that are labeled for places they use to store artifacts from Cybertron. Like what Ratchet said, I checked out some other rooms that were too small for the Autobots to go into and examine. Some of them were typical closets and storage rooms for humans and they were covered in year old dust. I had to either force my way into the rooms or lock pick them in order to get in since it's not like the Nothing was of note to mention in them but it's when I find the last room is when I'm really happy. "Alright, let's see what's behind door number three." I say to myself and get to work in picking the big chained padlock on the two steel doors. The doors are still human sized but I imagine if they really wanted to, they could have busted the lock off it and had Arcee crawl through the doors but I don't really see her being on her hands and kn—

*Cling*

And for some crazy reason, the bobby pin I had breaks. I stare at the broken piece for a few seconds until I drop it and use a flashlight to examine the lock a little better. Looking through the hole for the key, I see some tiny bits of rust. "Ah screw it." I click off the flashlight, put it away and take a step back before pulling out my Jericho. Pulling the slide back to load up a round, I take aim and fire.

*Bang*

The padlock jerks at the bullet hits it. The lock opens up and the chain falls away. "Perfect." I grin.

"What was that?!"

"Progress Ratchet!" I yell back to the medic for the Autobots. With a confident stride forward, I kick open the doors with one kick, letting them fly open with ease despite the slight rust build up. "It is… pro…gress." My words start to go low in volume as I see the entirely darkened room that is most certainly not a storage closet. Looking to my right, I spot a large lever on the wall. "Nothing ventured…" I begin to say as I go over to the lever and pull it down roughly.

With a fierce cry, machinery of all kinds turns on. Industrial lights on the ceiling, conveyor belts, clawed arms, computers, large screens, and forges with smelters are fit and ready to be worked on.

I stare in awe at the machinery that's been turned on and with a bit of elbow grease, looks like I can make some serious gear with all this. I even look off to the side to see a plethora of crates and covered objects that look like they can be used with all this equipment.

I let out a happy toothy grin as I stare at my new workshop. "… Nothing gained." I finish the quote.

* * *

 **And that ladies and gentleman, is the end of the Darkness Rising part of Transformers Prime. I apologize for those of you reading this story and waiting a long time for this chapter. I got a ton of inspiration and hype for my Steven Universe story and I just couldn't stop from writing. My time was focused on that for quite awhile and I apologize to everyone that were waiting anxiously for progress to be made. My high for Steven Universe has went away so I'll be going back to my regular schedule of working on my stories one after another. Next is my RWBY story then Steven Universe and so on.**

 **I am excited for the next progress I can make for this story considering what the ending means and the possibilities I can have for the future. I tend to make this stuff up as I go so I hope I come up with some pretty stuff for the future chapters and episodes. Already I have some firm base ideas that I don't plan to change and I can't wait to get to the part where I show you all what I have planned. Assuming I don't have anymore hyped moments for other shows, and everything stays relatively calm, my work should proceed as normal.**

 **Thank you all for your patience, have a great day, and as always have fun reading.**


	8. 7 Masters and Students

It may come off as weird and freaky working with cybernetic aliens from another planet that are fighting another faction of cybernetic aliens and I'm helping one of them, but I'm not complaining.

It's been a few days or so since that whole fiasco with Megatron and the space bridge got derailed by us and its safe to say things are settling in nicely for us. My human friends continue to come and go when they can between the base and their regular lives and the Autobots continue to monitor and keep track of as best they can of any Decepticon activity.

Me though, my time revolves primarily around the base since I don't really need to go out and socialize so my time has been spent going to the outside top of the base to take my classes from my computer, since the inside has that jamming signal in place, and taking stock of the giant workshop area inside the base.

The main function from what I can tell of the room is a sort of assembly line and manufacturing part of the base. It's not mean to be on the scale industrializing but more so single or small scale items. A lot of the equipment is dusty, old, and in need of some tune-up but with some effort I can get these working again to make… well, whatever I feel like.

Right now though I'm working on getting the computers properly online. They did turn on but since this base was decommissioned so long ago and given to the Autobots, leaving the majority of the equipment to rot, as well as giving Ratchet considerable headaches left and right on the ancient equipment and gear, I've decided to focus my attention on the computers first. "Geez these things are ancient. No wonder Ratchet is angry all the time and encounters so many problems." I grumble as I continue to type away on the massive computer. I'm having an even worse time on these computers that Ratchet since he incorporated Cybertronian tech into his equipment while I'm working on solely human tech. Thankfully, the hardware and physical body of the computers are relatively advanced compared to the general public, despite being old, but it's the software that's giving me obstacle after obstacle. None of this stuff has been updated in the past dozen years or so, meaning that trying to give any sort of update completely crashes it with the sheer influx of new coding and intel on the unfamiliar computer terminal. "I'm gonna have to get Raf down here to help sort this stuff out." I mumble as I tear through the information. Mostly I need to regulate what goes where and it's giving me a massive headache to do so. Frankly, after figuring out the problem at first, now it's just a matter time as I work on this stuff. "Hopefully soon I can get this working and figure out what I have to work wi—"

*BOOM*

The loud explosion sound echoing off the walls and permeating the near silent atmosphere I'm engrossed in makes me jump out of my chair and stare wide-eyed out the door. "That was inside the base!" I loudly declare to myself before running over to my motorcycle and turning it on without missing a beat. A problem with my workshop and new living area is because it's centered close to the back of the base, I have to walk that takes a little bit to get to the front entrance. Not wanting to waste any time at all on the potential enemy attack, the wheels on my motorcycle peel out before gaining traction and I speed out the doors to the front. I grab my shotgun I have strapped to the side and with a twist one-handed, load a shell into the chamber, ready for action.

"Decepticons! We're under attack!" I faintly hear Ratchet say from the front. As I come around the corner, I slide to a halt in front of a billow of smoke and aim into it. The same goes for Optimus and Ratchet as we stare at what caused the explosion.

A paper-mache brown volcano was not what I was expecting.

"It's no attack, Ratchet. It's my volcano." Raf informs us as we stare at the item in question, which promptly melts into a goo pile on the stand its on. "Or was." He moans depressed as his volcano melts.

I lower my shotgun and after turning off my engine, walk over to the thing confused. "Wait, what's going—"

"Hold still, Bulkhead." Those of us confused look up to the second floor at Miko's voice to see her with Bulkhead, who's holding what looks like a model replica of our solar system. "Jupiter needs its red spot." She brings her brush up but a large drop of it splatters on the floor. "Whoopsie!"

"Huh?" I moan confused as I place my shotgun back on my bike before moving more to the center of the room.

"What. ln the all-spark. Is going on in here?!" Ratchet demands in equal parts irritated and confused.

' _If I didn't know better, I'd say they were working on—'_ "Our projects are due tomorrow." _'Ah, okay. That answers that then. Thank you Jack.'_ I think as I look at my human friend in question as he and Arcee are working on what looks like a disassembled motorcycle.

"Maybe it needs one of these doohickeys." Much to my and Jacks' confusions, she indicates with the unattached muffler in her hand.

"You're a motorcycle, Arcee. Shouldn't you know how to build a motorcycle engine?" Jack asks smugly of her.

"You're a human, Jack. Can you build me a small intestine?" She retorts.

"Ha he he he he." I chuckle at the comeback. "She's got us there Jack." I say as I come up to them. Still though, you'd think she'd have some idea of how a motorcycle works but evidently not. "What class is this for?"

"Autoshop." He answers as he goes through some more parts.

"Well, you can't work on these projects in here. You're… making a mess." Ratchet tells everyone.

"But the science fair's a big part of our grade." Raf informs him of the importance of their projects.

"Yeah, if bulkhead doesn't help me finish this model of our solar system—"

"Oh!" Ratchet interrupts Miko. "And what does bulkhead know of your solar system, or Bumblebee of your volcanos, or—"

"Arcee of our motorcycles?" Jack finishes Ratchet's rant.

"Precisely. We're not earthlings. And they're not scientists." He flat out tells them, much to some of their chagrin.

"But the autobots are their guardians, Ratchet." Optimus decides to chime in. "Would it hurt to learn more of earth by helping our young friends with their schoolwork?"

Ratchet grimaces at his leader no doubt taking their side on this. "Well, maybe our young friends should try learning more of Cybertron."

"Isn't your planet a barren wasteland filled with zombified Cybertronians?"

"…" At the stares I suddenly feel on me from every angle, I realize now just how stupid that was to say.

"Okay stupid thing to say." I mutter as I slowly start moving to my motorcycle. "Yeah, really stupid of me. Sooo I'm just gonna… yeah… bad call on my… sorry…" I keep muttering to everyone as a means to somewhat stall as make my way to my motorcycle. "Sorry that was really reall… sorry!" I quickly add before jumping on my bike and taking off back to my workshop before I get mobbed, which in hindsight I will deserve. As soon as I pass the doors, I jump off my bike, letting it slide away from me before I close the door and bar them shut. Once I twist the last lock into place, I keep myself pressed against the door before with a sigh I go onto my knees. "Uhhhhhhhh whywhywhyyyyyyyy." I moan and proceed to thump my head against the door over and over again. "Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." I angrily mutter at my own stupidity as I continuously thump my head against the door.

* * *

After my sad and depressed state, and a headache forming from the continued banging, I decided to go back to getting my computers back into working order as best I can. Half an hour has passed and I made some good progress in getting them back up to proper operating standards but still need some more work to do before that happens.

Now though, I decide to stop working since the headache is starting to come back with all the work I've been doing. "Ow. I need to relax." I mutter and proceed to shut everything down before heading to the door. Once I open the doors I head back to the main room so I can at least see how everyone is doing, and maybe apologize. The walk is a bit relaxing and much needed for me. As I come around the corner, I notice Ratchet is hunched over what I think is Raf's volcano using a sort of arc welder or blowtorch attachment on the project. "Hey, guys I wanna say I'm so—"

"Shh! Ep! Ap! Ap!" Ratchet cuts me off with shushing sounds. "Let's see… Where is it?" He mutters for some reason. I first think he doesn't wanna talk to me because of my words from earlier but he doesn't really acknowledge me as he seems especially focused on the task at hand.

"Um, what is it?" Raf asks as he gets close to the creation.

"Youuuuu'll find out." He replies with much enthusiasm.

"But, Ratchet, shouldn't I be doing the work?" Raf asks.

"Yeah it sort of is his pro—"

"Eh, yep yep, yep! Don't touch! Just watch and learn." He interrupts us.

Since I'm not getting anywhere with him, I shrug and walk past them to the stairs up to the next level with Jack and Miko. I pass by Bulkhead and Arcee, which we all shrug at the attitude and enthusiasms Ratchet seems to have on the project at hand.

"Soooo, we're just gonna go help Jack and Miko finish their—"

"Without my supervision?!" Ratchet interrupts Bulkhead in what could be described as surprise to him. "You want them to be right, don't you?" He asks and both Bulkhead and Arcee can't give an argument to the statement. "Then watch a master at work!" He declares before returning to the volcano.

"Control freak." Miko mutters with Jack and I right next to her on the second floor, leaning on the railing too.

"I'm getting some mad scientist vibes here." I mutter after seeing the mad look in the medics eyes. Everyone else can't help but nod as well.

"So, what do we do now?" Bulkhead asks. Since it's pretty much apparent that no one is going to help or have any input on how the projects are going to be built, thanks to Ratchet, we now got nothing else to do.

After a bit of thinking, I guess now's a good a time as any to show them. "Wanna go see my room?"

No one objects.

* * *

*CRASH*

Dust and chunks of concrete fall to the ground from Bulkhead breaking down the section of wall to my workshop. "Thanks Bulkhead." I call out once it's clear enough for us to go.

"No problem." He replies and transforms his hand from its breaking ball like attachment back to normal. Me and the humans navigate the broken cement chunks as we make our way inside while Arcee and Bulkhead trudge through the newly made doorway. "So this is where your staying?"

"I've never been here before." Arcee adds too.

"Not surprised." I reply as I kick away some small chunks that came close to hitting my bike. "This was one of the rooms that you guys couldn't get into when you first moved in no doubt. That was the only doorway in." I point back to the now much larger entryway.

"That explains it. We couldn't get into every single room in this place, so we just assumed the rooms were too small to be of any use to us." She comments as she stares around before focusing her eyes on the clawed arms and conveyor belts. "Guess we were wrong."

"Maybe a little. This stuff hasn't been used in a long time and I'm still trying to get anything operational."

"Wait, so it was really alright for me to bust through the wall like that?" Bulkhead asks, a little worried that the section might come down on us.

I shake my head. "Yeah we're good. Those walls didn't have any support columns to keep the ceiling up so it's all good. I do plan to fix the wall a bit later once I settle in a bit more. For now though it'll have to do until I can get some giant doors to put on it so everyone can come and go with ease." I explain.

"Ask Ratchet when's he not… crazy." Arcee proposes. "Pretty sure he's got a list of all the spare materials in this place."

"Thanks Arcee. I'll do that." I thank her and after I finish tidying up just a bit I walk to the center of the room and turn back to everyone with my arms outstretched. "Well… what do you all think?"

"Duuuuude!" Miko breathes in amazement finally at all the gear around us. "This place is wicked!" She says excitedly as she looks at the claws.

"Whoa!" Raf is amazed too as he goes over to the computer installed here.

"This is… quite a setup." Jack comments as he looks over at the stacks upon stacks of crates in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, it is." I say as I start walking around. "If I can go through those crates, get this machinery working, For now I've been working on that computer trying to get it working."

"What's wrong with it?" Raf asks as he sits in the chair.

"This things been offline for a long time so they weren't able to be updated. When I tried to get this thing working, the sheer flood of data crashed the computer and I've been trying to get it working again." I explain as I come up next to him. "I was meaning to ask you if you could help me."

With a smile, Raf pops his fingers before typing away. "Leave it to me."

"Thanks." I look back and decide to go over to the Autobots. "By the way, where's Optimus and Bumblebee? I didn't see them with everyone else." I ask curiously.

"We found an energon deposit on the move and while the rest of us were supposed to stay and help with their projects," Arcee explains with a gesture to the human students, "Optimus and Bumblebee decided to go check it out."

"Ah, okay then."

Everyone goes into a small silence as they continue to mill about and examine everything here with Raf typing on the computer being the loudest.

"What's in these?" Jack asks from the crates.

I shrug. "Not sure. Haven't really had a chance to open one of them up." I explain as I walk up to him.

"Well," I look to the side at Miko's voice and it's only because of my reflexes that I catch the crowbar she throws at me when she talked. Looking at the tool in hand, I see she has one in her hand and is twirling it around. "How about we find out?" She asks with a smug smile and walks over to the crates next to Jack. Taking one last look at the crowbar, I shrug and follow her.

Once the both of us come upon a wide crate, we both grab the crowbars firmly before pushing them into the crates. With a push downwards, the crates lid pops off the nails and allows us to open it completely. As I peer inside the crate, I can't help but smile at the materials inside.

"What is this junk?" Miko complains unfortunately. What's got her not as enthusiastic as me is the fact that all that we see is several blocks of what I think is different types of metals. "This is just… hunks of steel and metal." She begins grabbing blocks and after looking at them for a second proceeds to toss them out of the box behind her. While she starts haphazardly throwing them, I reach in and grab the only piece of paper in here and read it. Right off the bat, it's an inventory of all the items in this box. Namely, all the different types of metals that are in here. From regular steel, iron, titanium, and one that has my interest is tungsten.

"Ooooh. Nice." I comment at the variety.

"Nice?" She asks confused after she stops chucking the blocks, which don't really get damaged as they hit the floor. "What good is this stuff?" Ignoring her, I put the paper back in and go to another crate. "Hello?" She asks but I still focus on my task at hand.

Leveraging the lids open, I see the next couple crates are still more material for me to use. However one in particular that I open makes me raise my eyebrows in confusion before I smile at what they are exactly. "Ohhhh, this is nice."

"What is it?" I look back at Arcee to see everyone else staring at me. I simply chuckle before taking a closer look.

* * *

After my bit of focus on the contents of the crates, the others decided to go ahead and head back to the main room to see when Optimus and Bumblebee will be coming back and check up on Ratchet.

The stuff I found though in the last crate were actually special containers one can use in a forge with molten metal to mold it into different shapes. The molds I found actually turned out to be ones I can use to help me make bullets. What type exactly I'm not sure but the implications seem interesting to me. After they left, I went ahead and focused again on my computer to get it working. Whatever Raf did he did it swimmingly and managed to limit the amount of time I would need to spend on working on it.

The next day passed soon after and Optimus and Bumblebee hadn't returned. The others proposed to go out and possibly look for them but they returned well enough. Don't know what happened exactly but it left the both of them just a bit battered. Now while Arcee and Bulkhead left to go pick up Jack, Miko and Raf from school, Bumblebee is in Ratchets medical station.

"Bumblebee, putting yourself at risk was perhaps not the wisest of strategies, but you performed admirably." He says while Bumblebee steps out of the station.

He replies to Optimus's words and while I can't understand him, the tone he speaks leaves me to believe he's alright with it.

A horn starts honking from the main tunnel entrance. Ratchet gets a giddy look as he races to meet the others. "Aha-ha-ha! There you are." Jack comes in on Arcee while Raf and Miko are riding with Bulkhead. "Well? How were my— Uh, our projects received?" He asks as they disembark from their respective Autobots and give him awkward stares. The three of them concede though and Miko recalls how no one else on earth, especially the teacher, never heard of Cybertron so that got her an F on her unique take on the solar system. Jack's 'bike' apparently went haywire as it was constantly changing all the way into the hallway, and Raf's volcano burned a hole through the school's roof… and almost to the planets ozone. _'Huh, that explains that odd notification I got about an explosion at the school.'_ "Well, on our planet, you would have been awarded the highest honors. Absolutely no gratitude. See if I help them." Ratchet grumbles the last parts as he walks away.

I stare at him for a second before turning to them. "Sooooo, things really went crazy?"

"Oh you have no idea." Miko answers. I shake my head at the lengths that Ratchet went to 'help' them with their projects. _'You say Ratchet they should learn about Cybertron, but maybe you should learn more about Earth.'_

Bumblebee walks up to Optimus and speaks to him.

"Indeed, Bumblebee. Our human friends would have been wise to stray from Ratchet's path." Optimus says.

"Maybe a little." I can't help but add as I walk by them to Ratchet. While I walk up the stairs so I can get to more eye level with the medic, I think on the fact that while his tastes in construction may be a bit excessive for school projects, my needs may be just what I need. "Hey Ratchet?" I call him.

"Hm? Yes? What is it?" He looks away from the console and towards me.

"You know, while the others may be a bit… unappreciative of your work," I say to him with a smile and lean on the railing. "I however, have some ideas that may be able to make better use of your… talents."

The confused but intrigued face he does gives me my answer.

* * *

 **A relatively short chapter but it works. As the show was Ratchet definitely got a bit carried away with the kids projects and all. Wasn't surprised with the way how he made a replica of Cybertron but the crazy completely ballistic transforming motorcycle and nuclear blasting volcano that tore a hole through the roof of the school threw me for a loop. Bad for them to use as school projects, possibly good for Mason in making something particularly useful in the future with his help.**

 **In any case, things seem to be going smoothly but I think I may go into another chapter spree for my Steven Universe story. It's not confirmed yet but I'm mentioning it now just in case this and my RWBY story aren't updated anytime soon. Apologies to those expecting regular updates for this but with my classes starting in less than a month, I want to try to get as much content out as I can. I can better do that by working on one story consistently and it's 'A Tale of a Jade' that's more fleshed out in my mind.**

 **Anyway, thank you all for your continued support, have a great day, and as always, have fun reading.**


	9. 8 Scrapheap

Ratchet was more than surprised at the setup I have in my new room. He was especially surprised at the amount of material that the place contained and how it had gone unnoticed by them for so long. He immediately thought the room they couldn't get into were nothing they could use but as it stands, the stuff I found, the materials, the machinery, and the computers beg to differ on all accounts. With his and Raf's help, much of the computer has been cleared away into allowing me to work at it properly. It's simply now at this point to fine tune some things here and there in order for it to be brought up to the specifications that I'd like to see and use.

Ratchet even has some spare parts around for me to use in order to integrate Cybertronian tech into it, upping the durability and its speed too. He's even got some ideas to help fix my wall and include a giant set of double doors so that the other Autobots can come and go with ease. The doors would even have smaller doors installed so I and my human friends can move in easy without having to push the entire giant doors to get in.

Another idea Ratchet's got is the use of small to large precision lasers on the conveyor belt in order to get better results from the stuff I can possibly make. Don't know what I'm going to make right now but with the Autobots help, the possibilities are near endless for me at this point. I just have to integrate everything at this point and make sure everything starts to work together properly what with the new tech.

Ratchet expressed great reluctance to help me in fixing the connection setups. Something about 'Not wanting to deal with anymore computer errors' or something like that. After the amount of errors that popped up on his screen when we first entered the base, I can surmise he really doesn't want to deal with anymore computer errors anytime soon. Can't blame him really. Pretty I've been getting a migraine with the work I've been doing before he and Raf helped me.

Either way, my workshop is coming along nicely for now and now I think my focus should shift a little bit more to some furnishings. Get a proper bed, lamps, tables, refrigerator, maybe a stove to cook, things like that.

For now though it looks like the Autobots are dealing with some strange readings they've been getting in and around the arctic region of earth. Bumblebee and Bulkhead returned from a trip yesterday with a giant… thing frozen in ice. Not sure what it is but once it's thawed we can find out what it is. Currently Optimus and Arcee are getting ready for their own little expedition to the arctic to shed some light on the previous find.

"Arcee and I will search for any clue which might explain the origin of our arctic find." Optimus says as Ratchet starts up the ground bridge. I lean on the rails on the second floor as everyone talks.

"Only until your sensors sound. Remember, once your core temperature drops into the blue zone, system failures aren't likely… They're imminent." Ratchet grimly warns the two. Apparently they are just as susceptible to freezing damages as a human would. Interesting to know, sucks they have to deal with that.

"Well, let's hope it goes well." I say out loud. Since they're going to go to the colder more remote areas of the arctic, theirs pretty much nothing I can do to help so I'll be staying with the others.

And speaking of others, here come Bulkhead and Bumblebee with everyone else. "Miss us, doc bot?" Miko asks as she comes out of the green Autobot.

"Ughhhh, shouldn't they be in school?" Ratchet complains, still not on board with the idea of the other humans hanging around here. He has expressed some displeasure of me hanging around here sometimes but after showing him my stuff and keeping out of his way a lot of the time, he's alright with me but it's going to take a lot more time before he's happy with the others.

"On Saturday? We have the whole weekend off to spend with you." She clarifies why they are here. Thankfully with my classes online I don't have to worry about being late to a room.

"I wasn't expecting to carpool. What gives, Arcee?" Jack asks as he walks up to Arcee.

"Tag team, Jack. It's my turn for exploration duty."

"Oh, too bad. It's a beautiful day for a ride. Would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors." I chuckle at what he's insinuating to her.

"Arctic exploration duty." She clarifies where the exploration is going to be.

"Fancy a day in the snow, Jack?" I ask playfully.

"Indoors where it's warm." He does a complete 180 in wanting to stay in the base. He and Miko come up to where I am and we fist bump.

"The arctic? I've always wanted to see snow." Raf mentions out loud. I guess he's not as put off by the idea of a little cold in order to get in the snow but if the cold they are going to is powerful enough to shut off the Autobots, us humans may be a little much.

"Guess Jasper doesn't get a lot of snow huh?" I ask my two friends. Jack nods while Miko looks at me with skepticism.

"You've seen the outside. What do you think?" She asks and I shrug. _'She's not wrong.'_

"I would invite you to join, Rafael, but the conditions are much too extreme, even for we autobots." Optimus grimly but truthfully tells him why he can't go as he and Arcee walk over to the active ground bridge.

"I… Understand."

Just before they go through, the leader turns back to the kid. "But I will bring you back a snowball." He lifts his spirits.

"That would be awesome."

"Good luck you two!" I wish them luck before they go through. Just before they head on through, I see Arcee give a thumbs up without looking back and they disappear.

"Transport complete." Ratchet says but then the console short circuits quite harshly. "By the allspark!" He exclaims surprised.

My curiosity peaked on what happened exactly, I head over to him while everyone else goes elsewhere. "What happened?" I ask from above as he examines the console carefully.

"The ground bridge controls seem to have shorted out for some reason. Blasted earth tech and its continued problems." He grumbles the last part as he examines the console before looking lower to the circuits under it.

"Need some help?" I offer my help but as he looks at me with skepticism, he smiles and looks to the others.

"Bulkhead, Bumblebee! Here! Now!" He calls the other two Autobots. _'Okay, not my help then.'_ I lean against the railing and watch what exactly is going on.

"You can't boss us around just because the boss is out." Bulkhead complains to the medic but he doesn't reply, focused mostly on whatever system may be damaged.

"I need some heavy lifting. The ground bridge is down." Bumblebee is confused about what this means and I am a little too. _'The whole bridge?'_ "Optimus and Arcee made it through just fine. It's bringing them back that concerns me. Now, remove those panels. Chop-chop." He orders the two and they get to work. From what they've said before, the snow and cold can be just as damaging to them as is humans so if we can't find out what it is that's killed the ground bridge and its controls… I don't even want to think about what might happen if we can't get them back.

I watch the bots work for a bit until I turn around and see Jack and Miko going at it hard on their game, with Jack looking like he's winning but what strikes me is I don't see Raf anywhere. _'Huh, where could he have gone?'_ I get up and walk over to the two playing. "Hey, where's Raf?"

"Beats me." Miko denies without taking her eyes off the screen.

"He was here just a second ago." Jack says but before we can say anymore, the power goes out. "Great. Power failure."

"Aw. It wiped out our game." Miko pretends to be sad about what happened but from the tone I think she's quite happy with the turn out.

"But I was winning!" Jack however is not.

"Bummer." She replies as she walks down the stairs, leaving him to sulk.

I pat his shoulder to try to comfort him. "Sorry man. Better luck next time." I say before going with her with Jack trailing behind.

"We most definitely have a problem." I hear Ratchet say as he fiddles with the components." But what could have caused this?" He asks as he pulls out one of the ground bridge components in the floor that seem almost to be chewed up. The power fluctuates again.

"Or that?" Bulkhead adds.

"Might be the main grid. Hopefully, it isn't a substation malfunction." The medic hopes as he thinks. _'This is place is old but a simple malfunction couldn't have done that much damage so quickly.'_ I think on what the cause might be but a new voice gets my attention.

"Hey, guys. Look what I found." We turn around to see Raf is back, holding something.

"We're busy! Aah!" The scream from Ratchet was something I honestly wasn't something. I turn back to him to see if something attacked him but the look of horrified surprise on his and the other Autobots faces is definitely a surprise if ever I saw one.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" They shout and freak out as they all ready their weapons for some reason straight at Raf.

"Hey, hey! What's with you guys?" Me, Jack and Miko get in front of the kid to try to get them from committing friendly fire.

"Scraplet! Scraplet!" Bulkhead screeches the name for some reason. _'Scraplet?'_ Us humans look on in confusion at the name.

"What's a scraplet?" Raf asks.

"The most dangerous vermin ever to crawl upon the face of Cybertron." Ratchet informs us darkly with fear laced in his voice. The rest of us look at each other before looking down at the tiny sleeping machine in Raf's arms.

"Wait, this thing has you guys so freaked out?" I point at it as I look at them.

"Yeah. Are you kidding me?" Even Jack doesn't believe this little guy can make them so scared.

"You're giant robots. Scrappy here is Teeny." Miko points out the size difference between everyone involved and its true. The tiny machine is no bigger than Raf's head and the bots are freaked out like crazy.

"You have no idea of the damage that teeny thing can do!" Bulkhead retorts.

"Aw, he wouldn't hurt anything." Raf says but as soon as the thing spots the bots, several rotating lines of sharp teeth appear in its mouth and it takes off towards them, skittering across the ground. They try to blast it a few times but it dodges them before it latches onto Bumblebee. To everyone's surprise, more so us humans and the horrors of the bots, it easily chews through the paint of the yellow bot, before he knocks the scraplet to the ground. It tries to get back up but before it can attack again, Raf takes initiative and demolishes the little monster with a crowbar… repeatedly.

"Whoa, easy there, killer." Jack manages to stop the kid while I pull the crowbar from his hands. After taking a moment to breathe, Raf goes off to see how his partner fairs.

"Whoa. I did not see that coming." Miko mutters and we nod.

"Yeah. Geez that was… holy crap." I can't help but agree as I see the broken thing at our feet and the damage caused to the giant walking soldier scout.

"I'm sorry, Bumblebee." Raf apologizes but the yellow bot I think says its fine. "Is he gonna be okay?" He asks as Ratchet assesses the damage.

"Only a mesh wound. He'll live."

"Now do you believe me? All Scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal! Especially living metal." Bulkhead informs us firmly but harshly, and with good reason. We did kind of blow it off and now one of them got hurt a little.

"Well, bug squashed, game over, right?" Jack proposes but I'm skeptic.

"There's no way it's that easy if it's got them this freaked out." I mutter.

"He's right." Ratchet confirms my suspicions. "When it comes to Scraplets, there's never just one. And I fear I know how they got in here." He grimly tells us and takes us to where he thinks the scraplets came from. Now that I think about it, I think I know too. It's not long later we go to where they came from, the recovered frozen object from the arctic. And with it a giant torn chewed hole through it. "It's a trap… A Scraplet trap."

"Uh, an empty Scraplet trap." Bulkhead uneasily mutters and I don't blame him. From how big and empty it looks, and how small those things are, he has the right to be uneasy at how many of those things are potentially in the base.

"Most likely ejected into space eons ago, only to wind up in the arctic, where the temperature kept them in stasis." Ratchet surmises what the device is.

"Until we brought the thaw." Jack says.

"Right in the middle of our base." I add grimly.

"Now they're wide awake and ready to brunch." Miko says.

"So… how many are we talking about?" Raf asks and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to like the number.

"Thousands." _'I was right.'_ "And the power malfunctions and ground bridge damage are sure signs that their infestation is well underway."

"Great." I groan and grip the crowbar I'm still carrying. "We better get back to the bridge. Keep those things from tearing away at the bridge." With no arguments to speak of, we head back.

* * *

"Ratchet to Optimus, do you read me? We have a situation." Ratchet tries to hail him on the comm but it doesn't look right. With more sparks flying off the computer, he groans. "The Scraplets have gotten into the com-link system! If we don't eradicate these creatures immediately, they will reduce the entire base to a scrap heap!"

"I say we bug out of here and let them keep it!" Bulkhead proposes and Bumblebee agree to the idea. Since I live here now, that's something I really don't want to do, especially since I just got settled in, but then again I'm not the one that's made of food for thousands of those little cannibal monsters.

Luckily, Ratchet has better argument against it. "Evacuation is not an option. If we don't get the ground bridge back online stat, Optimus and Arcee will perish."

"They will?" Jack asks worried.

"I've heard the problem for it. The cold will eventually get into their servos, freezing them in place before it starts to get into their inner workings and start freezing the energon that flows through them." I explain who they can't stand the cold either.

"Precisely." Ratchet confirms before checking his scanners. "And judging from how long they've been out there, it's only a matter of time before the cold does more permanent damage to them."

Miko shakes her head before looking at her partner. "Bulkhead, you never run!" She tells him but he shakes his head.

"Miko, you haven't seen a swarm of these things devour a bot. I have. They pick you apart from the inside out, going for the small, juicy bits first. Fuse by fuse, circuit by circuit, till there's nothing left, and I mean nothing… Not even your optics." He goes into very explicit detail as to just how dangerous these things are. Transferring the idea to human terms, a bone chilling shudder goes through my body. Us humans look at each other from the amount of danger that the Autobots are in and a silent agreement is made between us on what needs to be done.

"You have to let us help." Jack states.

"We're not made of metal." Raf adds.

"Yeah. The Scraplets can't hurt us." Mikos says too.

"We're invisible to them. We can repair any damages without fear of getting attacked." I add too.

"Typically, I find your fleshiness to be your least engaging quality…" Ratchet mutters to us in disdain, "But it would appear to provide an advantage under these extremes." We breathe in relief at his willingness now to be able to let us help. Now it's time for the plan.

"Okay, good. So we pair off as best we can, one bot, one human. Mason and I will watch your back while you repair the ground bridge." Jack proposes and I nod in agreement. If we lose the controls to the ground bridge, or the bridge itself, then our team will be severely crippled without the use of the machine, as well as the loss of our friends.

"And we go on a bug hunt." Miko says to Raf, Bulkhead and Bumblebee on their mission.

Needless to say, the green and yellow bots are not too keen on the idea. "Oh, boy." Both of them groan in worry at their job.

* * *

Several tense minutes pass as Jack and I mill about, keeping a watchful guard out in case the scraplets attack the medic and the ground bridge. I gave the crowbar back to Raf to use in case of attack while Jack has a one-handed lead pipe and I managed to find a large long pipe for me to use. I would use my guns but I only have my pistol on me and my Winchester is too far away in my room, so the pipe is going to be my best bet right now. Just got to be ready to swing, twirl, and swipe a lot.

"How's it going over there?" Jack asks the medic engineer while gripping and patting his lead pipe.

"I've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits, but the ground bridge still won't receive power!" He explains the problem. Before I can offer to help, Jack and I freeze as we hear soft clinking sounds, putting us on alert.

"You hear that?" I ask quietly as we go back to back and look around to find the source of the sound.

"Yeah. But I don't know where it—" He suddenly stops talking, making me worried.

"Jack? What's wrong? Why did you—" I begin to question him but as he grabs my shoulder and turns me around, I see what exactly has him so freaked out. High above the wall there is a massive swarm of scraplets than can be seen walking on the wall but as soon as they spot Ratchet, their teeth are revealed and swarm in a storm of them. What's worse, they're flying. "Wha—?!"

"Whoa! They fly?! You never said they could fly!" Jack yells back to Ratchet but before he can retort on forgetting that bit of info, they attack the Autobot. "Ratchet!" He yells in worry as the little things start to swarm him.

"C'mon!" I yell and we both go over to flailing bot. Not wasting anytime we start hitting as many of the scraplets as we can off him. Thankfully because they're so small and weak we don't have to exhibit a massive amount of force to destroy them. I twirl my pipe all around, hitting and smacking the scraplets that fly around and on the bot himself while Jack hits the ones only on Ratchet. We get a large number of them in no time but there are so many of them. The damage done to Ratchet is getting very bad and we aren't destroying these thing fast enough. "This isn't working!" I yell.

"The fire extinguisher!" Ratchet manages to yell over all the noise and points to the device. After I spot it, I drop my pipe and sprint over to it before picking it up and turning around.

"Jack! Here!" I yell my friends name and toss it towards him. He sees it flying through the air and drops his pipe before grabbing it easily enough. I run back and pick up my weapon before he manages to get the fire extinguisher working and begins spraying Autobot all over. As I watch the coldness of the extinguisher begin to freeze the scraplets, I feel like we may actually win this.

"Ratchet, get the patch kit. We're leaking energon like- Whoa!" Unfortunately, the others decided this was the time to return and with the new contacts in the room, the swarm of metal eaters go into a frenzy. The scraplets start to swarm on the others and Bumblebee opens fire on them. "Eat this!" Bulkhead tries to crush some of them with his wrecking ball arm but they easily start to swarm and the others with sheer ferocity. What follows next is the human members of the Autobot team working hard and tirelessly to try to beat and kill all the scraplets that endanger our friends.

* * *

"We get them all?" Jack asks as we finally finish getting all the ones that have attacked. He sprays down the last of them with the extinguisher while Miko, Raf and I break them into a million pieces. Unfortunately, there are some more scratching sounds coming from deeper inside the base, indicating we have far from got them all.

"Hardly. These were juts scouts." Ratchet grimly confirms my suspicions from his spot on the floor. All the Autobots took a real beating from the attack so they're all on the ground trying their best to recover from their wounds. Even Bumblebee groans at the news of just this group was simply a scouting party.

"Some scout force." I mumble and proceed to punt one of their lifeless corpses far away from us. Theirs practically hundreds of these things here already, so if these are only a scout force, then the main force will be even worse.

"So, the rest of them know we're in here?" Bulkhead asks and Ratchet nods.

"And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal, Optimus and Arcee will never make it home. We must get the ground bridge operational." Ratchet explains and states firmly.

"Then we can use it to send the Scraplets anywhere on earth." Raf proposes a brilliant idea for us to use.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea." I back his plan. If there really are thousands of these things, then there's no way we can take them all down. Transporting them somewhere else though seems much easier.

"Why not back to the arctic? We already know they don't do cold." Jack says, holding up his extinguisher in emphasis.

"Sweet! One-stop shopping." Miko is on board with the idea.

"Given the body mass of the Scraplets, sub-zero temperature should freeze them on contact. So think, Ratchet." The medic begins to mumble to himself as he tries to come up with the reason for the power failure on the ground bridge. "Think! If the ground bridge is still down, there must be a breach in the energon fuel line." He surmises but Bumblebee groans at the wounds he has sustained.

"If we weren't breaching, one of us could get back over there and fix it." Bulkhead complains about their injuries. Seeing the bots injured like this, we know what we need to do.

"You guys get going, I got them covered." I tell my friends as I grip my pipe harder. They nod before looking at the others.

"Where do we find it?" Jack asks.

"And how do we fix it?" Raf asks too.

* * *

While they go to fix the breach, I head back as fast as I can to grab my shotgun from my room with the lull in attack. I see scraplets skittering about here and there but they pay me no mind. Thankfully, all the gear is shut down in my room thanks to the power fluctuations so it's a blind uninteresting spot to them. Once I grab my shotgun and the proper ammo, I head back and stay to keep the others covered in case of stragglers or a full on attack. I opt to use buckshot in my shotgun so I can have a wider spread in taking out the scraplets. Their small bodies should be weak enough for the small pellets to work still.

Once I'm back, I go about patrolling around them to make absolutely sure that we don't get surprised like last time. "How you guys holding?" I ask them as I walk by. They groan in response but Ratchet provides a more accurate response.

"No permanent damage so far. Only surface wounds. Provided we aren't swarmed by the rest of those abominations, we should make a full recovery."

"Good. Don't worry, while the others get that breach secured, I'll make sure none of them get close enough to take a bite out of you." I do what I can to reassure them as I grip my shotgun firmly.

"You can't take them all kid." Bulkhead mumbles weakly to me.

"I don't need to take them all," I state before cocking the lever and staring directly at him, "I just have to stall them."

Bulkhead stares at me for a second and at first I think he's going to reply but he seems to weak as he lays back down. "So, if we get- When we get the ground bridge open," He corrects himself, his words directed towards the injured medic, "do we send the creepy-crawlies out or bring our bots in?" He weakly asks.

"Optimus and Arcee will be fresh meat. If we bring them in first, the Scraplets will have no reason to leave. We'll need bait." Ratchet explains. _'Bait?'_

"Where are we gonna get bait?!" Bulkhead loudly demands. "The Scraplets already helped themselves to everything in here!"

"Bait huh?" I mutter before glancing around me. "Let me see if I can find something." I quickly take a look around to hopefully find something that may help or be used as bait. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff in the room is pretty outdated, wrecked and not something that the scraplets would want to take a bite out of that's more appetizing than the Autobots. I'm start rummaging through some of the junk piles.

"C'mon, c'mon. There's gotta be something here I can use." I mumble under my breath my searching turns more feverish. After a lot of junk goes flying all over, I find one piece that makes me pause and smile. _'Perfect… We really gotta clean this place up.'_ I can't help but add in my thoughts on what's going to be bait.

Unfortunately, a loud crashing sound can be heard high above us. All eyes look to see the swarm of scraplets preparing to make their attack. My grit my teeth as I hear Bumblebees whirs of worry at what he's basically seeing his doom. _'Not if I can help it.'_ Throwing myself from the pile, I grab my shotgun along the way before pointing up and firing.

The thunderous booms of my shotgun going off momentarily drown out the sounds of the scraplets along with a few dozen of them falling to the ground. Smiling at the effectiveness of the different ammo, I continue to fire. Because of the sheer size and how many there are in the swarm, I simply hold my weapon at my waist and hip fire it while reloading. More and more of their tiny body's fall to the ground around us and it looks like I can keep up and eventually take them out but more and more vents above break open as scores of them continue to mix in with the cloud already here. They also begin eating away at the supports above as parts of metal begin falling around us. A small piece lands next to me, making me flinch. "Ah! Crap this isn't working!" I yell but before I get back to shooting, I spot the others finally returning.

"Ratchet, all systems go!"

"Fire it up!" Jack and Miko come in yelling and signal its ready. _'Just in time.'_

Ratchet for his part manages to stand up and grip the ground bridge controls. "Ground bridge… Activated." He weakly says as he manages to stand and activate it before falling to the ground. Even more scraplets start to join the swirling vortex of them high in the ceiling and I'm running out of ammo as a very large support beam lands next to me. Taking a step away from where it landed, I look to see the green vortex of the ground bridge activate.

' _Nows my chance!_ ' Dropping my shotgun, I run past Bulkhead and get grab the piece of equipment that should help. Quickly grabbing it, I go over and stand in front of the portal before holding it over my head and shout. "HEY! READY FOR DESSERT?!" All the scraplets turn as they see the wrecked piece of dark energon revived claw arm in my hands. Thankfully it looks like the dark energon is a big beacon because they ignore the others and go for me. "C'mon! I'm right here!" I goad them some more as I start backpedalling before sprinting as fast as I can through the portal hauling the hunk of metal with me. I see the others calling out to me as I go but their quickly drowned out by the sounds of the bridge and the scraplets getting dangerously close to me. It isn't long through the portal before one of them finally latches onto me. I grit my teeth as one of them bites and I brush it off but soon I'm completely swarmed by them. They start to eat away and tear apart the machine in my arms but a lot of them continue to scratch, claw and bite at me regardless. Either way I still push forward and head through the portal, the uneasy yet familiar feeling of the transportation hitting me… along with the cold.

* * *

Arcee and Optimus push through the cold storm as best they can to their salvation in the form of the ground bridge portal. Their entire bodies are both almost completely frozen over at this point and if they don't get back to the base soon to get a proper defreezing, the damage may be permanent to them. As they push, they notice the portal fluctuate and a figure comes running out of the portal. A small one to be exact.

Both of them are confused as they see Mason running towards them, a piece of junk wreckage in his arms before with a mighty heave, he tosses it far ahead of him into the air. "Get down!" He warns the two of them before he jumps forward and lands deep into the snow. Before they can think as to why, to their surprise a massive horde of scraplets come flying out of the portal, tearing through the airborne junk piece with ease before flying straight at the two of them. Optimus pushes Arcee back in preparation to fight and take the brunt of their attack, but as they fly towards them, the cold finally hits the tiny robots half way to them and freeze solid. Both bots cover themselves as the frozen robots bounce harmlessly against them and litter the snow. After a few seconds of their harmless onslaught, they both stand up in confusion as to where on earth the scraplets came from. Mason for his part weakly gets up from his face plant in the snow and manages to stand up but favoring his left side a little. He waves them over to the portal. "Cmon! It's time we brought you home. We got some catching up to do."

* * *

"Report bio-circuitry status."

"Levels are rising."

"Excellent." Ratchet comments on Jacks answer before looking at Raf and Miko. "Rafael, keep a close watch on Bumblebee's electro-pulse monitor. Miko, check bulkhead's interface patch."

"It's steady."

"Looking good." They both report to him.

"Perhaps you should get some rest yourself, old friend. You saved quite a few lives today." Optimus proposes and compliments his friend from his spot of recovery. Both he and Arcee are already taking the necessary precautions needed to defrost and heat themselves up after the extended time they spent in the arctic.

"It… Wasn't all my doing." He glances to the others that are injured. "We're just fortunate that this infestation happened… On a Saturday." He mentions on account of the fact that our human friends would have been in school at this time on any day other than Saturday and Sunday. I may not have been in school but I doubt I could have been able to protect these guys AND fix the breach at the same time. The opportunity for them to help was important no doubt.

"Our human friends may be small, but they are strong." Optimus comments and I smile. While the situation could have been better, it's nice to see the opportunities for the humans of the Autobot team to prove themselves when they can. Our leader turns to address me. "How are you fairing Mason?"

Right now I am sitting on the stretcher we used before with Agent Fowler with some bandages adorning my body. I've got some small cuts here and there but the only bad ones are some bad bites on my right shoulder and my left side. Nothing life threatening but definitely stings. I've also got my jacket and a blanket wrapped around me because of the cold I threw myself in so I'm freezing. I shrug with a smile. "Could be better. Could be worse. I'm good for now. Provided we don't bring in anymore conspicuous potentially trapped items in the base, I think I'll be fine."

"No arguments here." Ratchet comments, along with grunts and whirs from the other two scraplet attacked victims.

"Yes. In the future, we must remains cautious of any more relics brought back to the base." Optimus orders, in which we all nod in agreement.

"Aaaaaaahhhh!" Suddenly Miko screams bloody murder. I grab my shotgun next to me while Raf and Jack come up to her armed with their weaons.

"Scraplet?!" Jack asks loudly as he gets ready to fight whatever's got her so freaked out.

"Spider!" My shotgun falls back onto the bed at what's got her so scared. "Is it on me?! Aah! Get off!" She screams as she starts flailing around and trying to get said spider off of herself while bouncing away from us.

"Did she just scream like a little girl?" Bulkhead asks as we all lean over and watch her go. We share a laugh at her possibly slight overreaction to the bug but no bothers to answer since we all know it.

Another thought though reminds of something that Raf was hoping for earlier today. "Oh hey Raf. Sorry we couldn't get you a snowball. We had… other priorities." I mutter at the sheer chaos we all had to deal with in such a short time. Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Ratchet nearly getting eaten alive by the scraplets, Arcee and Optimus almost getting frozen solid, and I who got scratched, bitten, and bruised by the little devils, then suddenly dropped in the sub-zero snow.

He looks at me for a second before glancing all around at everyone who's basically bedridden from our escapades. "You know… I'm not really sad about that. I'm just glad everyone's alright."

"Here-here." I say along with murmurs of agreement from everyone else.

* * *

 **Sorry for the delay everyone. Kind of went hard with everything else along with the addition of my new Star Wars the Clones Wars story. Hopefully I can keep back to a regular schedule of chapters for all of my pieces for everyone to enjoy.**

 **This chapter of course didn't have any super major changes to the episode itself in comparison but I'm alright with Mason's role at this point. Hopefully for the next few episodes I come up with stuff that has a bigger impact possibly but who knows. Not even me.**

 **Also I want to ask you all about the possibility of me making a Code Lyoko story. Recently I've gone to binge watching the episodes and I've got ideas like crazy for what I could possibly do with the story. I want you all to tell me your opinions on the idea of me making it.**

 **Thank you all for your support so far. Go ahead and fave, follow, review if you want, have a great day, and as always have fun reading.**


	10. 9 Con Job

Things have settled in fairly well after the scraplet attack. A lot of the base has been repaired to the best of our abilities but some things are still on the fritz. We've been hard at work trying to get everything back in order but those little devils got into nearly every single nook and cranny to replace all the wires and components they chewed through but there is a lot to go through. The supports above and around the main room of the base had to be fixed and reinforced so we don't have anymore collapses around us. Thankfully when it came to the smaller areas the others were grateful for my assistance in fine fixing things and areas they couldn't get at themselves. Ratchet was more than happy with that as it was an annoyance that he did not want to leave unattended.

Still, it was crazy how such small little things were able to cause so much damage in so little time. Nearly all the Cybertron members of the autoboot team were almost killed by those scraplets, whether by getting devoured by them or cut off from the base by their sabotage of the ground bridge.

Wonder how the Decepticons would react to the idea of their own troops being incapable of taking out their sworn enemies and those little parasites coming close to being able to. Either way the whole thing sucked.

"Alright, try it now."

"Starting it up." Ratchet replies and with the press of a few buttons, the terminals monitors properly hum to life. "Uuhh, finally! Thank you Mason."

"No problem! Heyup!" I reply from my spot on the back of the computers. I jump down from my spot and land on the second flooring. Me and Ratchet have been working on the computers as best we can to get them properly working again as soon as we could. The rest of the team have taken to going out on more patrols since we were out of comms or monitoring for awhile what with the destruction the scraplets caused so we could make sure the decepticons weren't trying anything.

"All right. Chores are done. NOW can we do some dune-bashing?" Miko asks from her sitting spot on Bulkhead's shoulder as he walks into the main room. _'Well, almost everyone going on more patrols.'_ Right now is one of those moments where everyone is here in the base but lately it was Miko that was hanging out more often so Bulkhead wasn't going on as many patrols. Luckily for him and Miko, with the computer monitoring systems back in working order we can now keep track of decepticon activity without going on as many extensive patrols. _'Now if we can just get those Ground Bridge controls working…'_

"I don't know, Miko. Last time, I spent a week picking sand out of my articulators. Uh, but, there's a monster-truck rally in town." Bulkhead shoots down the idea Miko made and opts another one instead. I shake my head and head over closer to Ratchet.

"So, is everything going alright?"

"Just about." He replies without taking his eyes, or optics technically, from the screens. "As long as our repairs hold together, and nothing else interrupts us, all systems are go." I smile at the info. However it turns to a frown as a spark pops out from the bridge controls nearby. Ratchet himself grumbles. "Now if only we can—" He begins speaking but an alarm goes off from the main terminal he's at. Whatever it is, it prioritizes everything else as he calls our leader. "Optimus I'm receiving a signal on a restricted band. It appears to be coming from a starship inside this solar system." Ratchet explains before typing a few more keys in the computer, getting more information on the mysterious object as everyone starts to come close. "It's an Autobot identification beacon."

"Autobot?" I mutter as I move closer to him.

"So there are other bots out there?" Jack asks.

"The masses scattered to the galaxies when Cybertron finally went dark, but cons have been known to bait traps with false beacons." Arcee explains. _'Well that complicates things further.'_

Optimus nods at the news before leaning closer to the console. "Unknown vessel, this is autobot outpost omega one. Identify yourself." He requests as he speaks to the comm computer.

"I've had warmer welcomes from Decepticon combat brigades." The new arrival replies back.

"Wheeljack?!" Before anyone else can make any guesses to the new person, its Bulkhead that seems to already know just who the new Autobot is. "You old con crusher! What are you doing all the way out here?" Bulkhead enthusiastically asks as he moves closer to the console.

"Bulkhead? That you? What's with all the security?" Apparently this Wheeljack knows Bulkhead, that's good, and asks in return.

"The rock we're on is crawling with cons. How soon can you get here and even the odds?" Bulkhead explains before asking.

"Sometime tomorrow if I put metal to the pedal."

"Another bot's coming here. How cool is that!" Miko happily states. When it comes to nearly anything of the Autobots, she always finds some way to be happy with it. In this case, I don't blame her as I too feel a little excited and happy to have another Autobot on the team. Will definitely take pressure off us to at least have an additional set of hands to help.

"Wheeljack… I know of him by reputation only." Optimus notes before looking to Bulkhead. "Can you verify his voiceprint?" He asks him seeing as how he's good friends with the new soon-to-be arrival.

"He is 1,000% the real deal, Optimus." Bulkhead states without a doubt in his voice on the Autobot on the other end of the comm.

Optimus nods before turning back to the computer. "We will send landing coordinates, Wheeljack. Safe journey."

"See you soon, buddy. I'll make sure you get a proper welcome." With the final comment from Bulkead, they shut off their comms.

"New Autobot… nice." I comment quietly.

"So, who's the boyfriend?" Arcee sarcastically asks.

"Haha, me and Jackie go waaaay back. We were part of the same war unit, the wreckers, which means the cons are gonna wish he never found us." He tells everyone with a smile on his face. This Wheeljack must be something else if just hearing his voice has Bulkhead so pumped.

"That's good. Any new help we can get will go a long way in easing our work." I point out.

"And Jackie is the best we're gonna get." Bulkhead excitedly states as he punches his fists together.

"Coordinates are sent." Ratchet tells us after sending the location of where he needs to go to his ship. "Now, we simply wait for him to arrive at the specified location." After he quickly explains, we nod and wait for several minutes for our guest to get to where he needs to go. All the Autobots mill about waiting patiently while us humans move closer to the monitors on the second floor.

"You think he's here to visit?" Raf asks.

"Maybe he'll stay!" Miko hopes before she starts thinking for some reason. "Hmm. Have to find his own human, though. Oh, hey Mason! Your free. Maybe you could be his partner." Miko proposes to me with a smirk.

I chuckle at the idea while I continue to stare and monitor Wheeljakcs location. "Maybe… let's just wait and see if he's staying first." I'm hoping he'll stay not because I could get my own Autobot partner, I'd have to see how he is first, but mostly because the Autobots could use ANY help they can get on this rock. Hopefully more often on the homefront than anywhere else.

On the screen, Wheeljack is getting close to his destination. "Ground bridge cycling up." Ratchet states but the controls crackle and short out. He punches it and gets it working again but we are still a little angry at the small malfunction. "Blasted scraplets! Equipment hasn't been the same since the infestation."

"Hopefully with Wheeljack's help we can finally fix it, sooner rather than later." I comment in slight disdain at the messed-up electronics.

Ratchet sighs before nodding slightly, "Hopefully…" He mutters before focusing on the controls again.

"So, wheeljack's gonna land halfway around the world and then you'll bridge him here?" Jack asks for clarification after seeing the ship fly past the Atlantic, _'Or is that the pacific?'_ , on the monitor and the fact Ratchet is trying to get the Ground bridge working.

"We can't risk revealing the location of our base just in case the Decepticons are tracking wheeljack's ship." Optimus explains why. I nod at the assessment. From what I can tell this place is pretty remote and while their were some Decepticons in Jasper, it's pretty obvious they don't know exactly where the Autobot base is, less they immediately try to tear apart the whole mesa to get at the base. For now, they probably just think the bots were just in the right spot the last time they fought in Jasper.

"Dude, I've never seen you so stoked!" Miko meanwhile points out as the green bot continues to walk around excited.

"Oh, you're gonna love Wheeljack. We were like brothers. And tonight we are gonna party!" He states loudly.

"Sweet!" Miko is happy about the idea too, but it seems the festivities will be placed on hold because alarms start blaring.

I glance to the monitor to see red dots now following Wheeljack. "Uh-oh."

"Bogies closing fast on wheeljack's position." Arcee says on what's going on.

"Con scum!" And Bulkhead is none too happy about it. Wheeljack despite being attacked manages to make it to the destination but the Decepticons aren't far behind and the dots immediately surround our ally. "Open the bridge, Ratchet! We're missing all the action!"

"I'll prepare sick bay." Ratchet says after activating the Ground bridge.

"Who for? The cons? This is Wheeljack we're talking about." Bulkhead confidently says before he, Arcee and Bumblebee head on through.

While the attack force heads on through, the rest of us simply have to wait and hope for everyone's safe return and not need sick bay. Thankfully it doesn't take very long before they make their way back through the portal with a new addition in tow, our new teammate Wheeljack makes it through alright. As soon as they go through though, the controls for the bridge short out again, shutting the bridge, leaving Ratchet to sigh in defeat at the continued malfunction. Despite the failed bridge though, Bulkhead is happy nonetheless to have Wheeljack here.

"Jackie, come here. Meet my other best buddy, Miko. She can wreck with the best of us." Bulkhead wastes no time in introducing his human partner.

"Hiya." She waves to the new bot.

Wheeljack smiles as he leans in. "You keeping Bulkhead out of trouble?"

"I try, but trouble finds us anyway."

"We're gonna get along just fine." He says to her and backs up, all the while Miko smiles happily at the new Autobot.

"More like YOU are the one that finds trou—"

*Smack*

"Ow!"

"Shush!" My comment doesn't get to finish as Miko smacks me in the stomach and shushes me. From what I remember all the times she's been here with the Autobots, there have been more than a few moments where it was Miko that got us into trouble. We don't really get into it or anything as Optimus makes his presence known to the new arrival.

"Optimus prime, it's a privilege."

"Likewise, soldier. What have you to report from your long journey?" Optimus asks Wheeljack.

"Been bouncing from rock to rock searching for signs of friend or foe. Now I find both." He states happily at the news.

"We are few, but strong." Optimus begins to say. "We have suffered losses," The memory of Cliffjumper pops into my head, as does the rest of the Autobots, "But we have grown." Us humans smile as he glances to us. "And we would relish welcoming a new member into our fold."

"I would be honored." And like that, Wheeljack is onboard with joining our little Autobot team.

"Then let's get this party started!" With that declaration, Bulkhead roughly hits Wheeljack but they start fighting and butting heads playfully, almost literally.

"Oh, joy." I chuckle as I hear Ratchet sadly state, no doubt annoyed at the new boisterous teammate we have on our team.

* * *

It's later in the day and while the wreckers get reacquainted, Miko finds the time to practice more on her electric guitar while some people mill about and others play a game or went out on patrol.

"Come on, Jackie. Show me what you got." A giant metal ball of scrap goes flying from one spot of the room to the other. "Uhhn! Oh! Haha! Nice lob." Bulkhead compliments his friend. Meanwhile Arcee, Jack and I are leaning off to the side.

"Soooo, what's that about?" Jack asks on what the two Wreckers are doing. To me it simply looks like their playing a simple ball game of just throwing it at each other.

"It's called lobbing," _'Well, at least they have a name for it.'_ "The favorite pastime on Cybertron, especially among the warrior class." She explains to us.

"Oh, cool. If they add a hoop to the mix, I'm just gonna call it basketball." I comment, which Jack nods. Meanwhile with Miko, she starts getting into her music playing a bit more.

"Come on, Raf! Show us some moves!" She demands of the kid further down on the ground with his partner. For a second I'm thinking he's not going to go for it but he surprised me

"Oh, all right." Raf agrees and to some of our amazements, his dance moves are… adequate for our present company.

"Of course… The robot." Jack names the dance.

"Hahaa! Nice Raf" I can't help but compliment the kid. He does the dance nicely. Even Bumblebee beeps his like of the dance and joins in, syncing his own dance move with his partner almost perfectly. All the while Ratchet groans at the displays of everyone in the room.

"W-where's Optimus?" Jack asks now that he sees everyone else is here but our leader.

"Went for a drive." Arcee says.

"Or patrol. Either or." I add.

"Primes don't party." She finishes saying. Whichever it is, I can definitely see Optimus not being the kind of bot to dance or party.

"Mason!" I look over at Ratchet as he calls me. "I need you."

"Coming!" I reply and head over to him. "See you."

"Later." Arcee replies as I jump over the rail and land on the ground floor.

I jog over to Ratchet until I make it to him as he continues to work on the bridge controls. "What's up? Need me to fix something?"

"Yes, uhhh could you check the wiring at the base down there? I'm hoping it's a simple short right there after the last jump and nothing deeper in." Ratchet asks me to do without taking his optics off the controls.

"No problem." Agreeing, I go ahead and slide on next to the controls while he works up top. I pull a panel off and see if there's anything out of the ordinary that obviously needs fixing. _'Okay, let's seeee here.'_ I think as I start sifting through the wires to look for any burned, frayed, or broken wiring of any kind.

"Coming at ya!" All while we work, I can hear the ball hitting metal harshly, which I assume is the Autobots having fun still.

"Mason watch out!"

"Huh?" I look up at the warning and my eyes widen as I see the giant metal ball falling down on me. "Whoa!" I push myself off the ground and roll away from my last spot just in time. A lot of tearing of metal and wiring can be heard as the metal ball hits the controls.

"You know, I am attempting to perform sensitive calibrations here!" Ratchet tells them angrily, in which I sort of find myself being just a little angry too.

"Sorry, doc. Guess we're a little charged up." Wheeljack apologizes to the medic and walks closer to us. "Sorry little man." He apologizes to me now as he grabs the scrap ball.

With a grunt, I jump to my feet and wipe the dirt off me. "Whatever. Just please don't try to squish me again." I demand as I walk back over to keep working. All the while, I keep my eyes on him so he doesn't drop anything on me again.

"You built this bridge from scratch, huh?" He asks Ratchet.

"I did." He simply replies without turning from work. Same with me as continue checking.

"That's quite a feat of engineering."

"…Yes, it is." Without turning my head, my glance to Ratchet as I find just a bit of hesitation in his voice.

"Something wrong with it?" Come to think about it, Wheeljack sounds a little odd too, what with his fascination with the ground bridge… even though he's a warrior in Cybertronian caste.

"I didn't care for the way it sounded this last jump. I put it in shutdown." Okay, now that gets my attention on the medic. _'Shutdown? But he didn't put it in shutdo—'_

"What if you need to use it?" Wheeljack interrupts my train of thought at his continued insistence.

"Ohh, I can't disrupt the defrag process without causing irreparable damage." _'Ratchet, your acting a little… weird.'_ I can't help but think. There is no defragging he has to do on the computer. It's mostly mechanical and wiring problems we are having trouble with.

"So, uh, how long will the defrag take?"

"A few hours, if we're lucky. M-maybe longer." Ratchet sounds, very suspicious for some reason and on edge as he 'explains' what we're doing.

"Hmmm," I hear Wheeljack mumble and I can feel his optics on me as he glances between us working. "Well, hope you two manage to get this thing working again. I'm itching for action." He says and walks off.

While he goes, I glance at him. "Suuuuurre." I say before going back to working again. The base is all well and good so there aren't any problems there. I decide to go back up to the second floor so I can check under the controls themselves, just as precaution and so I can talk to Ratchet without speaking too loudly. "Pssst. Ratchet, what's with you? You okay?" I ask quietly without looking up and focusing on my work.

"Ehh, I'm fine. Just keep working." He dismisses me coldly.

"You sure? Because I 'know' you didn't put the bridge in shutdown." I say, reminding him of that little bit he told Wheeljack. He tenses a little as I bring it up but he soon continues working, after he glances to Wheeljack as he goes back to lobbing. "It's Wheeljack isn't it?" I ask quietly.

"… I don't know what it is, but that bot… is giving me a bad feeling, especially when he was inquiring about the ground bridge itself." Ratchet finally tells me what's bugging him. To be honest, I'm starting to get suspicious as well about the new addition.

"You think he wants something specifically, and not just to pall around with Bulkhead?" I ask as I glance to the two bots who start throwing the ball at each other again.

"Precisely." He mutters back to me. We delve into a small silence before he speaks up again. "Keep an eye on him will you? Report to me if he starts inquiring more on any… interesting topics, or sneaking around."

I nod at Ratchet's order. "Yes sir. You got it."

"Good." With our objectives in mind, we go back to working on the ground bridge to get it working again. All the while, I keep one eye on my work and the other on our new addition to our team. _'Hopefully I don't have to report back on anything… but I guess we'll see.'_

* * *

"So there we were… No communications, low on energon, surrounded by cons. So, what does Wheeljack do? Tell them, Jackie." Bulkhead begins to go talking about a story from his past and shifts the focus to Wheeljack. I've worked what I can on the controls so for the time-being I'm going to do what Ratchet asked me to do and keep an eye on Wheeljack.

"Well… What I do best." He replies.

"Hahahaaa! He chucks his only grenade smack into the primary heat exchanger." Bulkhead finishes telling the story.

"Yeah, seemed like a good idea at the time."

"The joint went supernova!"

"Awesome!" Miko is excited and enraptured by the story but I'm still on the fence considering Wheeljack kept dodging the chances to tell the story.

"Yeah, I'm still picking shrapnel out of my backside."

"I'm not surprised given the size of your backside." Arcee comments, making me and Bumblebee chuckle at the jab to Bulkhead. Once we are done laughing, I can't help but notice Wheeljack's focus on Ratchet and the ground ridge controls.

"There it is, Jackie's signature… One grenade, one shot." Bulkhead says but he gets worried when he sees Wheeljack's focus elsewhere. "Hey, you all right?"

"What?"

"You don't seem like yourself."

"Well, what do you mean?" Wheeljack asks.

"I don't know. You seem quiet." Bulkhead surmises.

"Aw, I've been stuck in a can too long. I should go topside before I get stir-crazy." Wheeljack proceeds to put off the worriedness his friend is feeling.

"I have patrol in the morning. You can come with."

"Let's go now." Wheeljack proposes they go instead. _'And yet another red flag.'_ His insistence to go out adds more fuel to the suspicious fire.

"And break up the party? Come on! The gang's loving you! You got to tell them about the battle of Darkmount Pass!" Bulkhead thankfully shoots down that idea instead.

"You tell them. You're better at it. How about if Miko here shows me the rest of your base?" If he's not going to go outside, now Wheeljack decides he wants to explore the place instead.

"Well, yeah, sure, Jackie. Hey, go ahead." Bulkhead is hesitant at first but is alright with it. I'm not alright with it but I can't really voice my disagreement of it.

"Tour starts now." Miko agrees as she jumps off the crate she's sitting on and starts walking away with her charge in tow. "Do you play any instruments? Can you fly? Have you thrashed more Decepticons than bulkhead?" She continuously badgers him with more questions as they walk away. All the while Bulkhead seems pretty out of it.

"You all right?" Arcee asks.

"Yeah, just… Out of sorts, I guess." He answers

"Don't tell me you're jealous." She states but he and I both know that's not what's bothering him.

"That Miko's making a new friend? Come on. Something… Something's just not right about Wheeljack." It looks like Bulkhead is starting to see the oddities that Wheeljack is starting to exhibit.

"Bulkhead, really? He's traveled galaxies. You haven't seen him for centuries. He could just be rocket-lagged or… Well, bots do change, you know?" She says some reasons as to why the differences for Wheeljack.

"Not Jackie." Bulkhead is firm with his caution of his friend. I smirk seeing as how me and Ratchet aren't the only ones that somewhat see it. For now though, I'm not comfortable sending an oblivious Miko to give Wheeljack a complete tour of our base.

"I'm going to work some more in my room." I mention out loud to them but they barely acknowledge me as Bulkhead continues to debate his doubt on Wheeljack.

* * *

"So, that's pretty much it. Energon stockpile, power generator, armory… Everything you need to blow the joint sky high." Miko doesn't really see the oddity of the locations she was asked to go find by Wheeljack as she gives him the tour. Wheeljack looks around as they continue to go but before he asks the location of where they are at, a new room gets his attention.

"What's that?"

"Oh, that's Mason's room." Miko informs him as without a care she walks in through the barely being fixed wall entrance. Some rebar is already in place to start fixing the broken walls and then ready to put in the new doors.

"Who?"

"Mason. Human. Broody, quiet, working with Ratchet, you almost killed him earlier." She names off some things.

"Oh, him. Right. He lives here?" Wheeljack asks as he walks in with her, taking note of the computer on the far wall and the assembly lines in the center of the room.

"Yep! Living in this exact room, filled with junk metal, computers, explosives, factory belts—"

"And two guests I don't remember letting in."

"Yeah! Wait…" Miko is confused at the additional voice before she and Wheeljack turn around to see Mason leaning against the wall at the entrance, crossed arms and annoyed look and all. "Oh! Hey Mason. We were just—"

"Leaving." He finishes her sentence and pushes himself off the wall and walking past them. "I've got work to do here and I'd appreciate the silence." He tells them as he walks over and sits down at his computer.

"Ughhh, fine! C'mon Wheeljack." Miko sulks at the order but goes nonetheless. She waves for Wheeljack to follow her as they make their way out. "See what I mean? Broody." He hears her say just as they leave. Mason makes no attempt to retort as starts booting up his computer, but doesn't actually turn it on. Once he hears the fading thuds of Wheeljack's steps, he gets back up and quickly moves back to the doorway. Peaking out, he sees them fully making their way back to the main room. Without uttering a sound Mason continues his tail of the duo.

' _Now tell me Wheeljack? Why would you want to know where our energon stockpile is, the power generator and our armory? And why were you eyeing the crates in my room?'_ He thinks sarcastically as he continues to follow and listen to them.

* * *

After I caught them in my room, Miko and Wheeljack went back to the main room where everyone else, all while I was able to keep out of sight of them. The things that Wheeljack asked to see where definitely incriminating in some cases so while they get back to Bulkhead, I make a beeline to Ratchet to inform him.

"Ratchet!" I quietly yell as I move in front of him on the second floor.

"Mason? Is everything alright?" He whispers back but it looks like the others are preoccupied.

"No. You were right. Wheeljack is up to something. He had Miko show him where we keep our energon, the generator and the armory. All the things he can use to make this place go boom!" I hastily explain what's going on.

"That… is some suspicious behavior. But he hasn't—"

"Miko! Stay out of this!" Bulkheads loud demand interrupts us. He looks angrily at Wheeljack for whatever reason while Arcee tries to defuse whatever situation may be volatile.

I look back at Ratchet as I begin making my way to the others. "I'll keep an eye out. Keep working on that." I say before making my way back to the others, next to my human friends.

"Tell it!" As soon as I make it, an almost tense standoff can be felt as they glare at each other from Bulkhead's outburst.

"…Fine. You want to live in the past, bulkhead?" Us humans glance at each other uncertainly about the situation but turn back as Wheeljack begins speaking, recounting the story that Bulkhead wants. "The wreckers were trapped between a Decepticon patrol and the smelting pit. The 'cons were vicious, bearing down on us with everything they had. Me and Bulkhead engaged the enemy, left them for scrap, then I made us a way out using their backsides as stepping-stones to cross the molten metal. Isn't that how it happened?" Wheeljack finishes as he asks the last question to Bulk.

"Yeah. That's exactly how it happened… Except for one little thing," Wheeljack tenses up at what I think is a possible mistake in his story. "I wasn't there." _'Oh, that's pretty big mistake.'_ I can't help but think as all eyes are now on him.

"Oh." I can hear Ratchet mutter behind us while I carefully maneuver myself close to Miko since she's the closest to Wheeljack and lay my hand on my pistol behind me subtly.

"I'd already left the wreckers to join up with Optimus, but you wouldn't know that if all you did was access Wheeljack's public-service record." And just like that Bulkhead calls out the imposter in front of everyone I see the other Autobots tense up at the news, same with me as I grip the handle of my pistol. _'I may not be able to do much damage, but I can at least be a nuisance.'_

"Bulkhead, what does that have to do with- Ahh!" As soon as I see Wheeljack move, I push Miko behind me. She's safe from the imposter but I'm the one that gets grabbed instead.

"Arh!" I grunt as the bot's hand grips me all around before I can pull out my pistol.

"Mason!" I hear Arcee and Bulkhead yell out my name but I simply groan as my arm is pinned to my side, making me unable to pull it out and shoot my captor in the face. He runs over to the bridge controls and holds me outwards to everyone.

"Stay back, or I'll squeeze him into pulp." Wheeljack speaks in a darker more eviler voice now, showing us his true colors.

"Wheeljack, what are you doing?!" Miko asks loudly in surprise at the turn of events.

"I knew it! I knew there was something off about you! Even Ratchet saw it!" I can't help but yell at the bot in anger as I slam my free hand into his hand even though it doesn't do anything. Ratchet meanwhile is forced to move back away from the fake, most likely so he doesn't do anything rash with me. _'Let me get my arm free, then I'll show him rash.'_

"Decepticon coward! Let him go and face me!" Bulkhead angrily demands but if this guy is really a Decepticon, then he won't take the challenge.

"Don't fret. Plenty of fighting to come." I don't like the way that the fake says, or what he's planning.

"Is there a real Wheeljack?" Jack asks amidst the whole situation.

"Oh, indeed, and I expect lord Starscream is making sport of him." The fake Wheeljacks tone and info seems to make Bulkhead pretty pissed off at the idea of his friend having been captured. The fake wastes no time in plugging in some codes in the controls for the ground bridge. I growl as I watch the display start to charge up. _'Of course NOW the bridge is working.'_ "About time." As per his words, we all watch as the ground bridge powers up and forms the usual green swirl. The fake smiles as he starts backing up to the portal with the others slowly closing in on him. I know the others won't attack this jackass. Not with me stuck as his captive. _'So it's me then.'_ With that thought in mind, I wrench my arm painfully a few times before I finally get free. "Let's get this party started."

"I don't think so."

"Hm?" He looks directly at me. Big mistake.

*Bang*Bang*

"Argh!" He yells in pain as my bullets impact right in his face and very close to his eyes.

"Whoa!" In surprise after getting shot, the fake throws me forward high into the air as he grips his face in pain.

"I gotcha!" Thankfully I don't go too far or hit the ground as I feel Arcee grab me from the air. She lands easily on the ground away from our enemy before setting me. "You okay?"

"Ohhh, yeah. Yeah I'm… I'm good." I try to assure her that I'm good but the tumbling through the air leaves me a little disoriented. I almost lose my balance once I fully stand but I quickly shake the dizziness from me before looking back at my captor, and see he's very angry as he glares at me.

"Why you little… Arh!" Before he can finish threatening me however, what I hope is the real Wheeljack, bursts through the portal and nails the fake right in the back. Once the fake is knocked down to the ground, he looks at us all.

"I'd shut that hole before the stink comes through."

"Ratchet." I call the bots name, who nods and quickly makes his way to the controls before shutting the portal down. Without a way out, the fake and real Wheeljack are now both stuck here as they both begin circling each other as they prepare to fight, both of them with dual curved swords ready to fight and decimate each other. Both their swords are curved but are not Katana's by any means, the tips of the blades are a bit wider than the normal ones, almost like a machete's but their not those either. I'm leaning towards more like a hybrid of the two types of swords, or maybe Scimitars. Bulkhead moves close, flexing his fists as he gets ready to scrap the imposter of his friend.

"Ugly's mine." The real Wheeljack declines help from Bulkhead. He steps back as the two finally get into a stance and move to attack.

They both slash at each other, fully engaging in combat. They try to cut each other but they easily block each other's attacks. The fight starts off fast as they continuously go about trying to hit the other with high or low attacks. All the while they continue to move about as the fighting intensifies as they both come close on several strikes to take out the other.

"Which one is the real Wheeljack?" Raf asks as he adjusts his glasses.

"Uh, I lost track!" Miko shouts as she fails to keep track of the continued fighting and movement all over. I'll admit I'm having trouble too but after a hard fight, what I hope is the real Wheeljack after having one of his swords knocked out of his hand, attacks the fake and after some low hard punches, he hits one of the fakes swords out of his hand and grabs the last sword in the fakes hand. With a rough pull, he sends his knee into his face, grabbing the sword out of the air and knocks down the fake straight to the ground, where he points the sword right at its face on the ground.

"That's my Jackie." I smile in slight relief after hearing Bulkhead confirm the victor is his friend. Wheeljack for his part sheathes his swords on his back.

"You, hit the switch." He tells Ratchet. "It's time to take out the trash. All yours, buddy." He says the last part to Bulkhead. Ratchet does what he's told and quickly turns on the bridge Without wasting any time, Bulkhead proceeds to grab the fake, spins him around a few times to gain momentum before sending him flying through the portal, while also impacting some Decepticons that were about to come through the portal. "Nice lob." Wheeljack comments to Bulkhead on his throw. Not wanting any more unwanted guests, Ratchet shuts down the portal.

* * *

"It's like a recurring nightmare." Ratchet groans after hearing the music and dancing again.

"Awww, c'mon Ratchet. We just flushed out a spy in our midst. The others deserve a chance to unwind." I tell Ratchet as I lean against the rail close to him, gesturing to the group dancing and mingling. Well, Arcee is simply mingling while Miko plays her guitar and Jack, Raf and Bumblebee are dancing. Optimus, Bulkhead, Wheeljack and I are around Ratchet as he works. Ratchet though simply grunts at my words.

"Now that you're part of team prime, we need to pick out a vehicle mode for you. I have some ideas." Bulkhead wastes no time in trying to get Wheeljack acquainted and situated here on Earth. Although from the weird expression he's giving off, he doesn't seem as enthusiastic with the idea.

"Uh, about that, Bulk…" _'There it is.'_ "Now that my ship's repaired, I'm itching to know what else I might find out there." He tells his friend sadly.

"Wait. You're leaving? Why?" Miko asks as she, Raf and Jack walk up to him with her being sad no doubt.

Wheeljack looks at her but Bulkhead speaks up before he can talk. "Ohh… Because some bots never change." At the saying from his friend, Wheeljack smiles seeing as Bulkhead knows him so well.

"Wheeljack, know that you'll always have a haven here." Optimus offers to the soon to be departing Autobot. If he's going out there all alone, should he ever need a place to rest and recuperate, or maybe need some backup, the earthbound Autobots have his back.

"Jackie never stays, but he always comes back." Bulkhead says as he pats his friends back with Wheeljack patting back just a bit rougher.

Not much time later we make our way through the portal to find Wheeljack's ship and get ready to say our goodbyes to him. Thankfully when he was shot down there wasn't a lot of considerable damage done to the craft to warrant massive repairs and long times out of commission. Barely a day and already he's ready to go, much to some our disappointments that we aren't getting a more permanent addition to our team here on Earth.

"There's room for two Bulk, even with a backside like yours. Who knows who we might find out there… Some of the old crew?" Wheeljack proposes the two of them go do. _'Oh man, don't tell me where going to lose another one?'_ I can't help but think. While I would be happy with Bulkhead and all, him reconnecting with an old friend and all, it'd still suck now if he goes. Bulkhead turns back to us at the question. Miko is no doubt worried at the idea of losing her best Autobot friend as me, Jack and Raf console her.

"Heh. It sounds like fun, Jackie. But my ties are here now with them… With her." Thankfully none of us have to worry about losing him as he declines the offer, then says the last part about Miko.

Wheeljack for his part only looks slightly sad at the decline but he smiles nonetheless at his friends choice. He glances to us, more specifically Miko. "If anything happens to my favorite wrecker, I'm coming after you." He playfully threatens her.

"I'll take good care of him." She replies with her own smirk to the departing wrecker. "Now, say 'cheese.'" And just like that, Miko takes a picture of the two wreckers together, a memento to not be forgotten.

"Well, we may not have a new member at the base, but its nice to know we have an active scout in space." I mutter with my arms crossed.

"That's true." Arcee speaks. "We can handle the ground, let's let the space jockey do the exploring."

I chuckle at that last sentence of hers.

* * *

 **Hey everyone. Late Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and happy New Years to you all. Wanna say I'm sorry for the long few months without any updates to this story. Lots of stuff happened that kept me preoccupied or focused my attention elsewhere. Projects for school hit me hard, issues with the internet as a whole freaked me out, my previous laptop broke that almost made me lose EVERYSINGLE chapter and work I ever did during over the last year.**

 **That means every word I've written for all my stories since I started writing, including all my saved work on my semester projects for my college classes were almost completely lost to me. If it wasn't for my uncles recovering my files, I would have lost everything and had only a couple weeks to do my college projects again. That week left me completely depressed, angry and sad but everythings all goo now. As an apology for going a few months without a chapter update, I'm going to do several chapters in a row for each of my stories to make up for the hell that has been the last couple months. Starting with this story. Then I'll do a few as well for my other stories before going back to a comfortable work state on all my work, provided nothing else comes up that hinders me.**

 **Another thing I'm also going to do everyone is reply to everyone's reviews here, both guests and those with accounts, that way if someone asks a question that others want to know as well, they can see the answer here.**

 **Fluffy guy:** Thank you.

 **This was the only guest review for the last chapter and I had already replied to the other reviews so from this point further, all review replies will go into the author notes at the end of each chapter for all my stories.**

 **Sorry again for the delay and hopefully their won't be any more sudden delays in the future. Thank you for your patience, fave, follow, review, have a great day and as always, have fun reading.**


	11. 10 Convoy

The base is back in order. After countless hours and several days of continuous work, it seems like we finally have this place back in full working order. It took awhile but we were able to get everything back into its proper place. We took several test runs of the ground bridge to make sure it was working properly and thankfully we no longer have anymore sudden shut downs or short outs of the Autobots main means of transport.

"Well, that's a load off our minds." I say once Ratchet is fully satisfied with the state of the bridge. "Glad to have that thing finally fixed."

"You and me both." Ratchet agrees before letting out a relieved sigh. "Thank you again for your help Mason. Your… small stature helped immensely in some of the more confined places that needed repairs."

"No problem. Happy to help get this place back in order."

"Now that everything's back in order, we should—" Before Ratchet can finish, the main terminal starts pinging, shifting his attention. "Optimus! We're receiving a video call. From Agent Fowler I believe."

"Fowler? What's he want?" Miko asks as she, Raf and Jack walk up to me.

"Put him on." Optimus gives the go ahead on accepting the call from the government agent. Ratchet nods and presses a button.

"Prime! Prime!" And just like that, we are assaulted by the loud voice of government agent Fowler as he appears on screen and maybe just a little angry for some reason.

"Special agent Fowler? To what do we owe—" Optimus begins to ask as he moves closer to the terminal but Fowler cuts him off.

"What else? 'Cons! I chased them off with some hard ordnance, but not before they blew me out of the sky." He explains. Now that I see where he is more closely, it looks like he's actually inside the cockpit of a plane. And being a part of the government, a jet most likely.

"Again?" Miko mocks. _'She does kind of have a point. From what I remember and what the others have told me, Fowler has had a tendency to be shot down by Decepticons.'_

"They tried a smash-and-grab for the D.N.G.S."

"The D.N.G.S.? Wow." I mutter. _'That's some heavy-duty equipment.'_

"The… What's it?" Arcee asks confused.

"Dynamic Nuclear Generation System, AKA, D.N.G.S." Suddenly I feel several eyes on me after I quickly explain the abbreviation. "What?! I get bored here! Excuse me for looking into stuff that'll give the Autobots an edge." I retort to everyone stares.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that a civilian knew about a highly classified military project." Fowler speaks over the comm, making my stomach drop on account he heard.

"… Wow that mic is sensitive." I mutter, much to my human friend's amusements.

"Focusing on the matter at hand," Fowler changes our monitor of him to show a large metal crate strapped down by leather blue straps. "The D.N.G.S. is a prototype energy source I'm porting to the coast for testing."

"That's absurd. Why would Starscream bother with such primitive technology?" Ratchet immediately dismisses the idea of the Decepticons being involved.

"I'm guessing to make a big fat primitive weapon of mass destruction. If this baby were to meltdown, it would irradiate this state and the four next door." Fowler gives a very good reason as to why they would want the device, and what can be done with it.

"Uhhh… Did agent Fowler say what state he was currently in?" Unsurprisingly, at least one of us is pretty worried about the idea of a meltdown, i.e. Raf.

"I'm a sitting duck here, prime. I need you to spin up your bridge and send the D.N.G.S. to its destination before the 'cons come back for it." Fowler requests we do.

"I'm afraid that sending such a volatile device through a ground bridge is out of the question. If there were to be an accident during its transmission, the radiation of which you speak could propagate through the ground bridge vortex and harm all 50 states and beyond." Optimus hauntingly warns about the consequences. A shudder goes through my body at the potential mass destruction that could cause.

"You got any better ideas?" Fowler asks. Obviously if the Decepticons are interested in anything, its never good so we have to come up with something to safely transport that thing without it taking out half or the entire United States.

* * *

"We are locked on to your coordinates, Optimus. Barring any complications, you should reach the dropoff point by sundown." Ratchet informs him, while Miko yawns, no doubt bored about just watching and listening to the plan taking place.

"Do you think this plan is going to work?" Raf asks.

"It sounds good, but we won't know for sure until the mission is finished, in success or failure." I explain. Hopefully the 'cons will take the bait and be duped when we initiate Phase 2. From what the others have told me about Starscream, he may be sadistic but can be pretty stupid at times. Hopefully this will be one of those times.

"Remain in vehicular mode unless absolutely necessary." Optimus orders the other Autobots to do should things get hectic. While the rest of us are here we are forced to watch on the map as the bots drive along the road. Everything is silent here as we don't see any new contacts appear with our team.

"A whole team of 'cons." Fowler states over the radio suddenly. For a second, like Miko, I too feel a little bored about simply watching but what Fowler says gets my attention for a big reason: We got nothing new on our radar.

"What? I'm not picking up anything." Ratchet replies to the team. I start to get worried on what this might mean.

"Pleeeease tell me Ratchet we didn't miss anything?" I almost beg to the medic. I am seriously not looking toward the idea that I or Ratchet may have accidentally missed something that screwed up the tracking system of all Cybertronian signals.

"Preposterous! We were very thorough in our repairs and as a precaution I double checked the systems once everything was in working before we started this plan." He dismisses the fault on our side pretty quickly and confidently. _'Wish I had that confidence.'_ "No, they must be utilizing a cloaking technology."

"Cloaking?" I mutter as I begin to think. _'Well, it's possible. I think their ship does have something like that. The only other option is they really aren't Decepticons and are something else.'_

"Our assailants are not Decepticons… They are human."

"Human?!" Ratchet, Raf, Jack and I all say confused and surprised as Optimus informs us of their enemy. _'I had a feeling it was going to be… but I guess I wasn't actually expecting it to be true.'_

"Oh, please. Taking on our bots? They're roadkill!" Miko boasts how good the Autobots are but I don't think it'd be a good idea to prove that now.

"Miko, we're kind of trying to keep the bots on a low-key level. And if this is some sort of secret para-military group, I feel like revealing the Autobots might bite us later on." I can't help but put down the idea of them fighting against humans right now, provided these humans don't pose too much a threat against the bots. Then I'm alright with them causing some harm.

We don't get much more over the radio from them but from some of the erratic movements some of the bots do on the map, and some sounds, hopefully their shaking off their pursuers fairly well. "Who are these guys?" Fowler can be heard over the radio so it doesn't look like the enemy is flying any distinguishing marks or logos that gives them an idea of what or who they are exactly.

"Autobots, maintain your cover and apply minimal force. Disarmament only." Optimus orders the others to do. Things definitely sound heated as we can hear the sounds of grinding tearing metal and crashing over the comms. Some minutes pass as they continue to fight off the humans but I think I faintly hear the sounds of a helicopter in the background. _'That's going to make things complicated if they can't transform and properly fight back.'_

"Special agent William Fowler here. Identify yourself!" Fowler can be heard as he angrily demands over the radio on who the hell is attacking him and the others.

"I am Silas." A deep almost foreboding voice can be heard in reply over the radio too. Looking at my friends they have uneasy looks about them too. _'At least we got a name.'_ "But of greater consequence to you, we are MECH." _'MECH?'_ "Fair warning… We will be helping ourselves to your device, even if it means inflicting casualties."

"I don't like the sound of that." Jack says next to me. I can't help but agree with that.

"Is that so? Tell me, Si, what's the market price for a D.N.G.S. these days?" Fowler harshly questions Silas over the radio.

"What makes you think we intend to sell it, agent Fowler?" _'Oh, I do not like that whatsoever.'_ I think once Silas tells us his agenda in the form of a question. "There's a war brewing between the new world order and the newest. The victor will be the side armed with the most innovative technology."

"That… is quite the mindset to have." I mutter uneasily as my mind starts to become racked with just who this guy is exactly, who MECH is, and just what they plan to do with the D.N.G.S. _'Although since now they're human, they may in fact simply use the device as the energy it is, instead of a bomb… hopefully.'_

"So, Si… You think mech has all the most radical tech?" And to go with what Fowler is saying, the blip that was Arcee's in the back of Optimus's trailer with the D.N.G.S. starts moving. From the sounds of crashing that can be heard, it sounds like she surprised them enough to do some good damage against the, "Later, Si." Fowler's comment leaves me just a bit relieved on the further problems they are causing for MECH.

"Agent Fowler, do not take your 'Silas' lightly. Megatron preached the very same ideology before plunging Cybertron into the great war that destroyed our world." And just like that, Optimus's explanation leaves me that much more uneasy with Silas.

"Oh boy." I mutter as I clench my hands on the railing.

"Optimus, prepare to initiate phase 2. Five miles ahead, to the South, you will reach the rendezvous point." Ratchet informs them as the tunnels start coming up to them, along with the train, the core of phase 2.

"Hopefully the switch works." I hope as they make their way in.

"Chill out Mason!" Miko sidles right up to me and slaps my back while trying to help shake my uneasiness. "Our bots got this in the bag." She boasts.

"Yeah, but are you okay?" Raf asks worriedly. I look at him for a second before noticing that my hands are clenching the railing a bit roughly. I let go before I wring them a little to ease the pressure.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine it's just…" I begin to say but I trail off as I begin to think on why this is getting me so nervous.

"Just what?" Jack asks.

I take a deep breath before speaking. "Before, the only thing we were facing was simply the Decepticons and the Autobots had an idea of what we were facing on that subject. Now… this MECH group basically means we now have a new enemy to deal with… one on our home turf." I explain as best I can on this mess. The Decepticons were what the Autobots were experts on basically, but now with a human group possibly added to our list of enemies, things will get a lot more complicated, especially what with Optimus's reservations about harming humans.

"Whoa. I didn't think about it like that." Jack replies, now just a bit worried like me. Not as much but I think this'll make them think more on the possibility we may have two enemies to contend with now.

"The switch has been made. The device is clear." Ratchet informs us, shifting our attention back to the others. This gives us some relief. Now we just have to hope Silas and MECH don't wise up too quick to the switch.

Suddenly, more blips start appearing on the map, blips that are not our Autobots. "Air support? Ours or theirs?" Fowler asks and I have a sinking feeling its neither, making this situation way more complicated.

"Optimus, you have company!" Ratchet calls them over the radio to inform them of the new problem their about to have.

"Great. Can this get any worse?" I immediately regret saying that as the others look at me. "I know I know. I just jinxed us." I moan through my hands covering my face.

* * *

Several minutes pass for us here in the base as we continue to only see and hear just what's going on. Thanks to the Decepticons we lost Optimus's trailer so right now MECH probably thinks their objective just blew up. Thing is, it probably won't be long before they figure out it wasn't there to begin with since their wasn't exactly a nuclear meltdown to go along with the explosion. Now the bots are forced to go into their robot forms because of the Decepticons so trying to keep MECH from seeing their true forms has gone out the window.

"Special agent Fowler, you lead a charmed life, walking among titans." As if it wasn't anymore clear, Silas's creepy voice can be heard over the radio to our government agent as he no doubt spotted the Cybertronians.

"Come on down. I'll introduce you." Fowler taunts him.

"In good time. But at the moment, I'm too busy wondering how the D.N.G.S. might have vanished into thin air without a trace." Silas says through the radio.

"Uh-oh. He's gotten wise to our ruse." I can't help but whisper. Should have known considering this guy seems like the leader of this MECH organization.

"Now if you'll excuse me I have a train to catch." With that final statement, Silas shuts off the radio and what I can only guess is him taking off to the train.

"Prime! Silas got wise to phase 2!" Fowler quickly explains to our leader on the issue we have.

"I understand." Before Optimus can say anymore, I can hear a loud crash through the comms and suddenly I see Optimus's blipsfall further away from where he just was. The sounds of groaning after leave me worried.

"Prime, do you read me? Prime?!" Fowler loudly tries to call him but there's nothing.

"Ohhh this is not good." I mutter.

"Optimus is down!" Miko says.

"MECH's gonna grab the DNGS. We need to think of something, quick." Jack says we should do.

"You mean like a phase 3?" Raf asks and at this point, anything we may think to do may be a phase 3.

"Okay. Come on, think." Jack mutters as we brainstorm and try to come up with a plan. Thankfully Jack and Miko got one almost immediately. "All right, if mech wants the DNGS, they have to get on that train."

Miko: What if we get on board first? You know, run some human-on-human interference? I'm sure you got some tricks to help deal with them." Miko is pretty gung-ho about that idea as she pats my back on the last part, but if these guys are close to military of some kind, or even mercenary's, then they would mop the floor with those two.

"Absolutely not!" Besides, Ratchet is pretty against the idea and he's the one that controls the bridge.

"Yeah, that would be suicide." Jack is not looking forward to the idea either.

"Hello, the United States of meltdown! Lives are at stake!" Miko brings up a very good point. We absolutely cannot let anyone else get that device at any costs. While the new party is human, the idea of a bomb being made is still on the table.

"Yes… Yours!" Ratchet is still not happy with sending us on the train still. "You want me to not only bridge you into a confined space, but one traveling at 90 miles per hour? I can't even count the number of ways that can go wrong. Mass-displacement trauma, twisted limbs, metal burn…" We give him weird and deadpan looks. "Well, maybe not the last one. Regardless, it is nearly impossible to fix ground bridge coordinates on something moving at that speed." He explains the other problems of bridging us.

"Would it help if we had access to the train's coordinates?" Raf comes to the rescue as he asks and before Ratchet can answer, the train now comes up on the map with its exact speed limit and traveling location. I smile. "Well…"

* * *

"Ha!" I grunt as I land on the train after going through the portal. I quickly bring my pistol up and scan the cabin to see it clear.

"We're in."

"Why do you guys continue follow me through portals?" I ask without looking back.

"Because we aren't going to let you have all the fun." Miko comments with a smirk, making me roll my eyes. However, I quickly spot someone lying on the ground on the other side of the car where we are. I holster my pistol and head over to the army soldier.

"Hey. You okay?"

"Uhhhh." All I get is a groan.

I check the guys pulse and feel that its normal. _'Looks like he was just knocked out.'_ I think on the downed soldier. Looking next to him, I spot his fallen M16 rifle. I grab the rifle, check to make sure it's alright and functional before grabbing a few magazines from the unconscious man. Unfortunately, I soon hear the sound of a helicopter above us.

"Give me a hand with this." I say as I go to the side door and place the rifle on the wall. Jack and I open the sliding door to see MECH's helicopter just above us. "Company."

"Raf, MECH's landing on top of the train." Jack calls Raf on the problem we got.

"In about 20 seconds, you're gonna come to a fork. Brace yourself." Raf warns us. We take his advice and brace ourselves against the wall in preparation. Just like what Raf said, the train suddenly takes the other path than intended and we almost lose our balance but stay standing. The helicopter above though I can hear almost crashing.

"Nice. Hopefully that bought us some time."

*Crash*

I get a bad feeling as something crashes on top. Not soon after a sizzling sound can be heard and to my dread a welder begins cutting through the roof of our car.

"Huh? So, what'd that buy us? 10 seconds?" Jack complains.

"Raf is losing his touch." Miko does too.

"Quite complaining. We need a new plan." I say before looking around as the welding has almost cut a square hole in the roof. The only thing that is useable for some form of cover is the D.N.G.S. itself. And while I don't like it, it's the only thing we got, and it will mess with MECH too. "Alright, I want you guys you to go behind the why the hell are guys grabbing those?" I ask loudly and begin to order my friend but soon it turns to slightly annoyed as I watch Miko grab the axe and Jack the fire extinguisher.

"Do you wanna give us YOUR guns?"

"… Go hide behind the D.N.G.S." I quickly order them to do, completely ignoring Miko's ludicrous question.

* * *

"Almost there sir." One of the three MECH soldiers on the train car radios back to his leader as the welder is almost completely cut through.

"Excellent." Silas says as he's so close to their objective.

*Thud*

And with a final cut, the piece of the roof they were cutting falls to the floor inside. The soldiers get ready to climb in.

*Bang*Bang*Bang*

"We're taking fire!" All three soldiers duck back as some rounds ping off the roof of the car and nearly hit them as they go through the hole.

"What?!" Silas exclaims in surprised anger. "That's impossible! That EMP device we attached to the train should have fried all the electronic systems and knocked out anyone onboard." Silas quickly recalls the device they shot onto the train to immobilize it and everyone inside. "Who's firing at you?"

"We don't know sir! We didn't get a good look—!"

"You're not getting in here so get out of here!" Silas gains a look of confusion as the voice he hears sounds surprisingly young, too young to be military soldiers in this operation.

"Forget it! Subdue them already!" Silas orders without hesitation.

"Roger!" One of the soldiers acknowledges the order and all three of them pull out their MECH issued advanced rifles. Very powerful armaments they developed that are much more powerful than any other firearm in the world today. One of them countdowns with his fingers from three for the signal to attack. As soon as he hits one, his fist clenches and all three move up as one and aim their weapons in the hole. "Freeze or we'll shoot!"

"Go ahead!" Silas's eyes widen at the same voice again. "You shoot and you take us all out!"

"WHAT?!" A female and another male voice can be heard as well.

"Sir, the one that's firing on us is a child." The soldier says through the radio back to the helicopter. "I can't give you his exact age but he's definitely a teen with two others. Their using the D.N.G.S. as cover and we don't have a clear shot. The one firing has only his upper body and rifle exposed at us."

"Their using the device as cover?!" The pilot exclaims in confused surprise at the news. "Don't they know how volatile that thing is?!"

"They do. That's exactly why their using it as cover against us." Silas speaks in a low tone with a grimace. "He knows we're here for it. He knows how dangerous it is… and he KNOWS we won't shoot it directly, less we want to take ourselves out as well." His frown turns into a smile as he nods slightly. "Clever." It turns back into a frown as be presses a button on their instruments. "Take them down. Avoid the D.N.G.S. at all costs."

"Roger." The soldier replies and with the order given, they aim slightly above.

"Get down!" Mason quickly ducks down as a flurry of projectiles go flying where his head just was. They all miss the D.N.G.S. completely but that's because the soldiers are only going for headshots. The soldiers continue to fire to suppress him and his friends.

"Jack! Give me a smokescreen!"

"What?! How?!"

"Just spray the extinguisher above you!" Mason clarifies. Jack quickly does what he's told and without leaving cover he starts spraying the extinguisher above his head close to the hole. The thick mist from the fire suppressant quickly forms and starts pooling out the hole and side door of the car but it does what Mason wanted as it obscures the soldiers vision from looking into the car. Mason returns fire to force them back. He misses of course but that was to only slightly suppress them through the smoke. Once they don't hear anymore shots, one of the soldiers moves close, his advanced rifle aimed over the edge of the hole and trying to get a bead on the assailant firing at them.

"I… can't see anything! Theirs too much smoke! I can't fire without risk of hitting the—!"

*Ping*

"Arh!" The peaking soldiers yells in pain as a couple of shots hit the gun he was holding, making him drop it as it falls into the car. He grips his hand in pain but quickly drops to the ground as more gunfire can be heard from in the car.

"You're not getting D.N.G.S.! Not if we have anything to say about it!" Mason yells at them.

"Yeah! So step off!" Miko adds in her own threat as well.

"What they said!" Jack… kind of threatens.

"Mmmm." Silas darkly growls as his fist clenches in slowly building anger at the nuisance they encountered.

"Sir." He looks to the pilot, who gestures to their radar. Silas looks before turning around and looking out the window. Optimus Prime, the red and blue titan he saw before is running and gaining on the train. Optimus then transforms and gains even more ground on the train as he closes in.

Seeing one of the alien beings rapidly gaining on them, there's no way MECH can grab the D.N.G.S. in time, not with the kids interrupting and the alien so close. "Retreat." With few options left, he orders his men back to the helicopter and takes off. "First rule of combat…" Silas begins as he pulls out one of their own specially designed rocket rifles. "Never leave the enemy with the spoils."

* * *

"Whoa. You're pretty fierce."

"Thanks." I reply to Miko's compliment as we stare out the side door towards the retreating helicopter but I'm not a hundred percent sure it was all me. They probably could have done some other tactics to overpower me and the others before taking their objective. _'Something must have made them leave.'_ I look around out the door for anything that may have scared them off and to my elation I see Optimus driving after us.

*Boom*

To our horror, an explosion further up comes from MECH blowing up a section of the train tracks farther ahead. "Oh man. That's not good." I dreadfully say.

"Ratchet, MECH blew the train tracks. You need to bridge us out of here! The soldiers, too!" Jack quickly gets back on the phone and calls Ratchet for a bridge request.

"We've lost access to the train data! I can't bridge you back without your coordinates!" Ratchet informs us of a major problem we now have on top of the destroyed tracks.

"Oh great! Just what we need!" Miko angrily states as she throws her arms in the air. She pushes me away from the door and looks outside herself. "Maybe we should jump." She proposes.

"At 90 miles an hour?" Jack asks incredulously.

"That doesn't sound good… or survivable!" I can't help but point out loudly.

"It's the impact or the meltdown. Take your pick."

"Well, when you put it like that…" I mutter.

"What were we thinking, volunteering for this?"

"Actually, it was more like 'I' volunteered and you two tagged along." I can't help but say seeing as its true. I still remember when Jack and Raf went with me before we got captured by the Decepticons.

"Really? Your doing this NOW?!"

"Well I'm sorry but I'm pretty angry about the situation we are in!" I yell back angrily as Miko's question. "Next time maybe you should let ME do this so I won't have to worry about anyone else!"

"Next time…" Jack depressingly says, which breaks Miko and I from our argument.

"We can buy ourselves another few seconds if we're in the back of the train, right?" Miko gives her best idea of what we should do but in order for that to work, we'd kind of need to go outside in order to get to the end. I look at the hole in the roof. _'That may work.'_

"Miko… Mason… At least we're in this together." Jack sincerely tells us.

"Thanks man." I thank him and pat his shoulder before looking around for anything else that may help. Again, I'm still stuck with nothing here.

"Raf, this is important! Make sure Bulkhead gets my guitar." _'Nice to see her priorities in order.'_ Before I can complain further in my head, Optimus finally comes to our rescue as he speeds alongside us heading straight for the front of the train.

"Don't read the will just yet." Jack gains a bit more optimism as our leader makes the effort to try to save us. However at the rate we're going and the mass, it's going to be close and I don't know about you but, _'I don't like it being close.'_ With nothing inside that can help us anymore, I lean out the door before I spot the caboose of the train and smile as a plan quickly forms in my head.

"Hold this." I hand Jack the M16. "Don't shoot each other."

"Wait, what are you…?" Jack begins to ask but I've already grabbed the MECH rifle, slung it on my back and I'm already climbing on the D.N.G.S. before jumping onto the hole in the roof. I quickly pull myself up onto the roof and without wasting any time since we are seriously short on that, I start making my way forward to the front of the train. Optimus is ahead of me in his vehicle form but as the road gets bumpy, he switches to his robot form that drops him back just a little before he starts moving ahead again. We turn and look at each other as he runs alongside the train and I atop it. We nod as I jump over one clearing of the cars to the next with the engine right in my reach. Optimus quickly gets in front of the train and just as I jump onto the engine part, he tries to halt the train, dropping the speed significantly.

"Arh!" Making me grunt as I hit the side walkway hard on the train. I scramble to my feet before throwing open the door to controls to get at them. As expected the conductor is knocked unconscious like the soldier in the car but I focus on the brakes. Finding the lever for it, I grab it before slamming it on full stop as hard as I can… and get nothing. "What?" I moan questioningly as the only force I can feel stopping the train is Optimus. I hit it a few times to try to get it to work but nothing. _'Great. Whatever MECH did messed up the electronics of the train as well. Need a new plan.'_ I think quickly before going outside and looking around. The broken tracks are coming up very fast and Optimus is doing everything he can to help stop us but its really really close. "Think think think! C'mon Mason!" I berate myself and try to come up with a plan to guarantee we'll make it. "Trains trains trains… brakes… they don't have just one they gotta have- Yes!" I shout and start making my way backwards on the train. I get on top of the freight car and start heading above.

"Hey, what—?"

"Move!"

"Woah!" Miko ducks as I pass over her as she peaks her head out and quickly ducks back in.

With luck, the mechanical brakes on each freight car are still working. I just have to engage them manually. At least one will help Optimus in stopping this train. As soon as I close in on the end of the freight car, I go into a slide and go over the end, gripping the edge before I completely fall off and dropping me into the gap between both cars. I quickly grab the lever but because of the lack of use of these brakes, its a bit stuck in place. "C'mon… c'mon… c'mon!" I grunt as I force as much of my strength in engaging this stupid brake RIGHT NOW!

*CREE*

Over the sound of the traveling train and Optimus's forced efforts in stopping, the lever finally moves and the squeal of brakes followed by sparks can be heard and seen as an additional set of brakes on top of Optimus are added to stop this runaway meltdown on wheels. "Pleasepleasepleaseplease." I repeat over and over again as I brace myself on the railing in case of failure. For what feels like a long time the screeching of metal and tearing of ground can be heard but eventually, it all comes to a stop, including the train. I lean out the side and look to see we managed to stop the train several dozen feet from the broken tracks. "Phew." I breathe out a breath of relief at how close we were to crashing and quite possibly taking out half the country too. My mouth curls up into a relieved smile but that soon turns to a frown as I spot the helicopter return.

* * *

"Well played, visitor." Silas begins to say as he watches the Optimus from his spot in the helicopter. "But mech still has home-field advantage, and we will find a way to level that playing field… even if—"

*Ping*Ping*Ping*

"Taking fire! Bugging out!" The pilot informs as the sounds of bullet impacts can be heard on their helicopter, along with one shot grazing the front window, leaving a crack but not a full-on impact shot. The pilot pulls the controls to the right and starts pulling away from the person shooting at them. Silas however isn't angry at getting shot at, he's been through that plenty of times before for it to truly surprise him, he simply glances back to the train again and glances at the kid that has been a massive thorn in his side in such a short time.

"Better watch yourself walking amongst titans… you may get stepped on." Silas grimly states before looking forward again, contemplating their mission. While their enemy has the D.N.G.S., he has found out a possible new source of technology that can be a major boost to MECH operations… from space.

* * *

"Was that really necessary?"

"Relax sir. I wasn't aiming to hit them. I only wanted to scare them off. I don't know about you but I don't want this MECH being around us anymore than is necessary, which I prefer not at all."

"Hmmmm." Optimus hums at my explanation before turning back to the sky.

I lean over the freight car to my friends inside. "Thanks Jack." I thank him for having thrown the M16 up to me so I can shoot.

"No problem." He replies.

"But the world in which we live is a different one than previously imagined." I hear Optimus say but not to me. I think he's talking to Ratchet on the radio. "One which has spawned its own Decepticons… in human skin." He finishes saying.

I place the M16 down on the ground before pulling the rifle off my back and examining it further. If I didn't see a human using this just now, I would have seriously considered it to be extraterrestrial in nature, and not just Cybertronian. _'This… is some scary gear.'_ I think as what I have in my hand is pretty advanced for human weaponry. I stare at the intricacy of the weapon for a few seconds before looking off towards where the helicopter just retreated.

"I got some work to do."

* * *

 **Happy New Years everyone! Starting this year with a new chapter, I'm actually quite alright with how this turned out. In fact I'm proud of the additions I made to when Mason jumped into the train car to protect the D.N.G.S. I don't know about you all but it kind of felt a bit useless to me for the others to go in the train not have a major impact. Sure they might have simply just delayed MECH enough Optimus to catch up and force them to retreat other than that, their really wasn't much else action for them.**

 **Hope you all like the change that was made and Mason's efforts in stopping MECH. And now because of his efforts, he has a rifle from MECH themselves to salvage and figure out what makes it tick. Let's hope it'll open up a whole new set of options for him.**

 **Without further ado, here are the review replies. All of them for the last chapter, which are only a few but thank you all nonetheless.**

 **serius:** Thank you. I do what I can keep my OC's interesting in every story and while their were only a few changes in the episode, it's nice to see they were what your favorite part is. Happy New Year to you as well.

 **Blaze1992:** True, it would be safer to simply take out fake right then and there instead of immediately sending him back but I think for Wheeljack and Bulkhead it was that much sweeter to send the spy back with a present. A very volatile and explosive present that also took out a bunch of the vehicons as well, and scared the crap out of Starscream.

 **Fluffy guy:** Thank you. I try.

 **AADarthSidiousAA:** I'm glad I was able to make your least favorite episode a bit more entertaining to read. It's always nice when your going to work on a part that someone isn't too fond of and you make it just a bit more…. Likeable. Hopefully I can continue to do the same to future episodes.

 **Thank you for your support. As I said last chapter, I'm going to continue working on a few chapters for this story till I feel like I've got to a good enough point where I can work on my other stories. Trust me, you all will know when I'm going to stop so till then, hopefully expect some more for the next few weeks.**

 **Thank you all, fave, follow, review, have a great day, hope this new year will be a great one and as always, have fun reading.**


	12. 11 Deus Ex Machina

Without the need to work on the bases repairs anymore, its nice to finally get back to working on my rooms fix ups and upgrades. Notably the others already helped me in getting the giant door setup and I've got a spot in the corner of my workshop for me to live in. I still have to do some more work to get plumbing and all set up but for now, I've got a bed than I can sleep in. Frames, bed spring and all. The computer is almost completely fixed now so I can surf the internet all I want, control the workshops mechanical uses it's housed in, and even better it can be used as a backup server should anything mess up with the main console in the main room. For now though I don't have anything I can use to make or work on using the assembly lines and such since my priority currently is thing I got from the last mission I went on.

MECH's assault rifle.

The weapon in question right off the bat is no normal rifle by any means and is a heavy-duty piece of equipment. Its been over a week since that mission and things have been relatively quiet on all fronts. I've been working on the rifle as best I can to see what makes it tick and hopefully upgrade it. The normal weapons which I have, including the M16, which I was allowed to keep for helping keep the D.N.G.S. safe, don't do much damage against Decepticons unless I specifically aim for their optics or anything else that may be a weak point. So far the optics are the only weakness I can possibly exploit on the fly against whatever 'cons I face but it's not a kill move. An annoyance most of the time.

' _If I can test the strength of this weapons firepower, I can then find out how effective it'll be against the 'cons.'_ Before I start firing it though, I need to see how it works first in case I ever want to make replacement parts or a new one altogether. Or even try to make other versions of the rifle. _'A sniper rifle… yes.'_ My lips curl into a smile at the thought of turning this weapon into a powerful sniper rifle against my enemies. _'I'd definitely be able to do some damage against the 'cons from a way farther, and safer, distance.'_ That is why right now I am sitting at one of my tables with the disassembled weapon in front of me. Lights shining on the weapon with different magnifying lenses ready to examine the parts I want to see.

*Knock*Knock*Knock*

"Come in!" I call out in response to the knocking without taking my eyes off the components. I can hear the giant door creak as it opens up, the entirety of it instead of the human sized door, so I can tell its an Autobot that walked in.

"Hey Mason."

"Hey Arcee." I reply to the femme but continue to work.

"What are you working on?" She asks once she walks close to me from behind.

"The rifle I snagged from MECH. You know the military group that tried to make a grab for the D.N.G.S.?" I recall the mission.

"Oh yeah. I remember. That mission would have gone a lot more smoothly if Starscream and his cronies wouldn't have interfered." She grumbles annoyed at the memory. Can't say I blame her. That plan for the switch was adapted during its execution against MECH, not the Decepticons, especially when they were so careless in blowing up the trailer that first housed the device before the switch was made. That would have been so bad if the thing meltdown.

"Definitely." I reply in agreement. Without much more I can do right now, I turn off the lights and set down my instruments before looking at her directly. "Not that I don't hate you or anything, but why are you here?"

"Miko and Bulkhead found something during their trip to Greece and Optimus wants everyone there, including you." She explains.

"Greece?" I ask confused as I put everything away and place a blanket over the disassembled rifle. "What were they doing there?" I ask as we both begin walking out of my room.

"Energon deposit readings and something about a report." She says as we make it out of the room. _'Report? I get the energon readings but what does that have to do with—'_

"Wait, a report… with Miko?"

"Looks like it."

"Ahh, 'nough said."

* * *

We make it to the main room soon after our conversation and apparently what was found was something that could very important to everyone involved.

"It is indeed an energon harvester…" Optimus tells us as we stare at the picture Miko took of an ancient Greek fresco painting depicting the holy-like orb the Greek is holding. "A powerful tool created by the ancients to remove raw energon from any source."

"Greek gods knew Autobots?" Raf asks in slight surprise at the idea. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case. Some depictions in ancient history sometimes come off as exaggerations or feel like they shouldn't be possible in the first place at their time. Cybertron intervention, I can maybe see that happening.

"No. The ancients often used the art of a given era to conceal messages. This fresco was likely a signpost indicating a harvester's location hidden somewhere on this planet." _'Well, there goes that theory.'_

"Uh, Optimus, if the harvester removes energon from anything, and you all have energon pumping inside you…" Jack for his part comes up with a possibility that can be very very scary to our Autobot friends.

"In Decepticon hands, the harvester would be a devastating weapon."

"Jeez, that's horrible… and kind of demented." I can't help but say. That type of device would basically be sucking the literal life force from any Cybertronian being that is hit by it.

"See? You were a genius to total that painting." Miko compliments Bulkhead on what he did when they went to Greece.

"Miko's not wrong. How can the 'cons find the harvester without the fresco?" Arcee says.

"With high-speed Internet." Raf points out another way they can find out about it. "If you do an image search for 'Greek God' and 'golden orb,' this pops up. It's in a museum." Raf informs them as he pulls up said image on his computer. Optimus leans in so he can get a better look at the picture.

"That the real deal?" Arcee asks our leader since out of everyone, he should be the one to confirm the orb is in fact what it is.

"Contact agent Fowler." Optimus sternly states we should do, showing just how quick we need to get this device. Ratchet nods and calls the government agent immediately.

"You've reached special agent William Fowler. I'm currently on an intensive training retreat and unavailable until Tuesday." And we get his answering machine.'

Ratchet: I hate talking to machines."

"Uhhh—"

"Shut up."

"Okay." I quickly shut up to not say anymore after Ratchet shuts me down.

"Without agent Fowler's direct aid, we will have to confiscate the harvester on our own." Optimus proposes we have to do instead.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. 'Confiscate'? As in steal museum property?" Jack isn't really onboard with the idea for us to break in and steal said artifact.

"That sounds Illegal." Raf is uneasy too.

"I'm down with that." I say out loud. My friends look at me and I suddenly feel self-conscious. "I… should really think before speaking."

"I do not wish to break human law, but once the Decepticons learn of the harvester's location, they will not hesitate to obtain it by any means necessary. We must act covertly." Optimus tells us and he's right. The Decepticons don't care whatsoever about collateral damage and like Optimus said, they will not hesitate to tear apart the museum to get what they want, no matter who's inside.

"Okay, n-no offense, Optimus, but covertly and giant robots don't really go together. Museums are public. A-and they have guards and security cameras." Jack points out some key factors that would make things complicated with just the Autobots.

"No problem! We're small enough to sneak in. And we are not a government secret." Miko also points out.

"Miko, I'm not sure that's wise." Bulkhead however isn't supportive of the idea of us humans going in to grab the harvester.

"But it may be our best option, Bulkhead. The longer we debate, the more time we give the Decepticons." Optimus sees it too that we can't delay. We're going to need all hands on deck for this mission.

"Then tonight, we steal an ancient Cybertronian artifact. After all, museums aren't public at night." I smile at that bit of info. All we would need to worry about now when doing it at night, is just the guards and alarm.

* * *

"Autobots, confirm position." Optimus requests from the Autobots.

"Westward Ho." Arcee checks in. Bumblebee chimes in his east side position.

"South side covered." Finally, Bulkhead does as well.

"Maintain your guard. Jack, Miko, Rafael, Mason, I will have a clear view of you. Once you secure the harvester, I will contact Ratchet to bridge you back to base." Optimus informs us as Ratchet turns on the ground bridge. Us humans stand on a motorized lifter, ready to go through and pick up our package.

"Now, since you'll bypass all points of normal entry, you won't need to worry about setting off the alarm. But take care to avoid any security guards." He warns us when we go through.

"Got it. Let's move." Jack nods at me and moves the controls forward, pushing us into the portal. The nausea doesn't hit as hard since we are no doubt getting used to these trips. We quickly look around to find our target.

"Opa!" Miko says as she sees the orb. Looking back at the main entrance, Optimus flashes his lights at us to show he has sight on us. Pulling my own flashlight out, I flash it a couple times back to our leader to confirm we see him.

"Let's go." I whisper the go ahead to Jack as he sets the controls to push us up the security camera right above us. Miko decides to do the quick and easy move of taking a picture the statue and the harvester and placing her phone on the camera. We can't disable the camera less we make security suspicious of the 'technical' failure, and we don't have time to hack the camera and set it on loop so we have to go with Miko's phone. Since the alarms don't go off when Miko places her phone on it, it would seem it's working. She signals for us to go and we gently move over to the harvester.

The cybertron relic is massive compared to us humans and I'm glad we got the lifter to help get this thing down. There is absolutely no way any of us would be able to bring it down gently without either breaking the harvester itself, or breaking the floor, and causing a lot of noise to go with it. With the lifter, we only have to drop it maybe a foot instead of several dozen feet onto the hard marble floor. Just as we get up to the harvester, Raf gets on the hand of the statue to push the device off while Miko, Jack and I get ready to pull the thing down onto our cart and cushion it's weight as best we can. Unfortunately just as we are about to get it down, what sounds like breaking glass can be heard and as we look at the front entrance Optimus is pushed up against it, right before he's shocked by a red Decepticon I've never seen before.

"It's 'cons." Raf fearfully says.

"They got Optimus." Jack says and I spot a dark blue truck starting to head our way as well but for a second I'm happy to see Bumblebee move in to intercept the truck but a rocket fired by it takes him out. The same is done to Arcee as the two collide into each other.

"Oh god. He just took out Bumblebee and Arcee. We gotta go now." No sooner do I say that do I hear stomps above us and Bulkhead moves in to take them out. The blue bot hits Bulkhead hard as it transforms and sends him flying into the red 'con before crashing into the front entrance of the museum, triggering the alarm.

"Move it!" I quietly shout to my friends. With no time to waste we double our efforts and push the harvester into our cart. Without the need for secrecy it loudly crashes as it lands next to us and pull Raf down.

"Come on. Time to make our exit, boys." Miko says and it's a plan we can get behind. Lowering ourselves to the ground, we abandon the lifter and roll it while Miko heads off ahead of us to keep an eye out while Jack and Raf push the harvester and I make sure no one is behind us, especially the 'cons. We wind down a couple hallways to the back docking area and thankfully no one is following us, especially the 'cons. Although I am curious where security is, what with the alarms and loud noises outside. Once we're clear I jog quietly to the others to see my friends pushed up against the wall.

"What's wrong?" I quietly ask.

"Miko got grabbed by security."

"Great. Just what we need." I moan at Jack's explanation. Peaking around the corner, I spot the gate ready for us to go through. "We're so close." I mutter. Soon though, I manage to spot a tall bots legs on the other side of the door.

"Arcee!" Jack calls out her name and the three of us run up to her. As we get closer though, through the headlights and the darkness, I get a bad feeling on who it might be exactly and its confirmed when pull the gate open further with their hands. Its then we clearly see who it is and the source of my uneasiness.

"It's Soundwave." Raf fearfully says his name. I grimace at seeing this Decepticon again and I would love to shoot it, but Optimus told me to leave my guns behind. Probably because I would be more suspicious to security if something bad were to happen. Well, something bad did happen and I and my friends can do nothing as the silent Decepticon reaches forward and grabs the harvester from us.

However, before he grabs it he stops for some reason. We look on confused before his claw curls into a fist. As I look back to him, I see him staring right back at me… and see the crack.

My hands instinctively push outwards and throw my friends away from me before I am suddenly hit with the force of the 'cons fist and sent flying back. "Mason!" I vaguely hear my friends call my name as I am in the air momentarily before I land on the ground roughly and go rolling a few times. I come to a stop but right now I am dealing with a ton of pain in my chest along with the air knocked out of me. I struggle to breathe as I try to take in air but its pretty hard after getting hit with a giant metal fist. As I try to get up I feel my friends hands trying to steady and help me up from my dilemma. Through my haze though, I glance back to Soundwave to see he already grabbed the harvester and is holding it up to examine in. When he turns back though, his faceplate changes to show a familiar image: The time I shot him in the face at the dish relays. _'Crap…'_ Without another word, Soundwave transforms and takes off with the harvester.

"Mason! Are you okay?! Say something!"

"Huh?" I shake myself from my staring to Raf's worried question and give him a comforting albeit almost painful smile once my breathing is back in order. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just… gonna be hurting for… a week… maybe." I do what I can to tell the both of them through a slightly ragged breath as Jack helps me to my feet. It hurts but I gently feel my chest and am happy to note I have no broken ribs, just a most likely really bruised chest. "Ow."

"C'mon, let's get back to the others and tell them about the harvester… and Miko." Jack proposes and adds at the end there. Not wanting to debate or speak, I nod and the both of them lead me out the gate to the front where the others are. We go out the back and go around the corner to the front and thankfully we only see our Autobot allies and no other enemies.

"The 'cons have the harvester!" Jack quickly brings them up to speed as a he continues to help me walk.

"And security has Miko!" Raf mentions that part too.

"What? I'm going in after her." Bulkhead states firmly.

"Bulkhead, Miko may be detained, but she is safe from harm." Optimus quickly stops the wrecker from wanting to crash through the museum to get his partner back. Theirs enough damage already and we don't need the police moving in to spot a rampaging Autobot.

"Mmm, fine." Bulkhead concedes to his leaders advice. He looks on curiously once he sees Jack helping me walk. "What happened with you?"

"I got punched." He looks confused, as do the others. "Can we please get back to the base? I wanna sit down."

* * *

Without any other complications or reason for us to be at the museum, Ratchet bridged us back to the base and is now giving me a medical scan.

"You'll be fine. Nothing is broken but it looks like you'll be sore for awhile."

"Alright, thanks doc." I thank him from my spot on the gurney and wave him off. He starts going back to working on what Optimus told him to do. The other Autobots, besides Bulkhead, left to guard hard to reach energon sites to see if the Decepticons will use the harvester at those locations since that device is the only thing that could get the energon quickly and effectively. Bulkhead is here to stay to help Ratchet make the forgery and to inform Fowler once we reach him.

"You've reached special agent William Fowler. I'm currently on an intensive training retreat and unavailable until Tuesday." When we reach him.

"Still no answer." Raf sadly states.

"Ughhh!" I groan from my spot on the gurney.

"Fowler's lounging around some poolside cabana." In his anger, Bulkhead proceeds to destroy another instrument of Ratchets.

"Bulkhead! I needed that!" Naturally, the medic complains quite loudly.

"We can free Miko if we can just return that harvester to the museum." Bulkhead proposes a pretty stupid idea.

"So the Decepticons can steal it all over again?"

"Yeah I don't know about you but I am NOT going back to a museum anytime soon thank you very much!" I somewhat agree with Ratchet. Putting the harvester back at museum would be suicide, for the people that go and work there.

"…I am so dumb!" After a moments thinking, Bulkhead insults himself and sulks a little.

"So, how are we going to help Miko?" Jack asks. We do plan to have Fowler use his government status to get Miko out of trouble but we do kind of need a reason or something along the lines to deal with the whole 'ancient-Greek-artifact-being-stolen' situation.

Enter Ratchet. "By returning this replica to the museum." He holds up the object of his work for us to see: a half-finished replica of the harvester itself. "The construction of which would be going a whole lot faster if Bulkhead hadn't just mangled my frame welder!" He points to the busted tool next to him.

"We're already trespassers and thieves. Why not add forgery to the list?" Jack says.

"I wish I'd never taken Miko to the—" Bulkhead begins to say but cuts himself off as it looks like he remembers something. "The painting of the harvester isn't the only thing we found at those ruins."

"I'm sorry?"

"What are you talking about?" Ratchet and I ask him as I carefully get up from the gurney. My body isn't in blistering amount of pain, just a dull soreness whenever I move and breathe so I can walk alright. Running or exerting myself may be a whole different matter.

"Starscream's not dumb. No matter what kind of tool he has, he's gonna take the easy route." Bulkhead states.

"What are you—?" I begin to question but I remember what Arcee told me when Bulk originally went to Greece. "The energon deposit that's already been unearthed."

"You got it." He confirms my reasoning before turning to Ratchet. "Open up the bridge and send me there!"

"Alone?! Bulkhead that's crazy." Jack doesn't like the idea and so does Ratchet.

"You guys got a better idea?! We don't have time to bridge the others back and THEN go! Someone's gotta go now!" Bulkhead reasons. They quickly into an argument but I ignore them in favor of coming up with my own plan. Fortunately, I do.

* * *

Just as Bulkhead said he was gonna do, Starscream went ahead and did just what the wrecker thought and went to the site where they first found the clue where the harvester was to be located, at the construction site in Greece. After Starscream in his messed up and most often cruel state he's in sucks the literal lifeforce from one of their soldiers to prove a point to Knockout and Breakdown, he sucks the energon from some deposits near him to prove just how quick they can gather energon from now. Not to mention if the dead soldier is anything to go by, a devastating weapon to their Autobot enemies.

*Crack*

And just like that, Bulkhead, who was trying to sneak up on his enemy and get the jump on them, steps on a pot. Immediately Knockout and Breakdown look at the Autobot.

"Oh, scrap." Bulkhead moans at his carelessness.

"Back for seconds?" Breakdown taunts him before he and his partner take off to take him down. Like a dear caught in the headlights, Bulkhead watches as Knockout comes around on his right twirling the shock staff he used on Optimus before and is ready to use it on Bulk. Breakdown comes around on the other side with his hands transformed into hammers to smash his enemy. Bulkhead watches carefully as the two of them come closer and closer to attacking before he ducks.

"Argh!" Unfortunately, they both were trying to hit Bulkhead at the same time from opposite directions so when he ducked, Breakdown nails Knockout right in the face. He is momentarily surprised that he just hit his partner instead and doesn't see Bulkhead grabbing Knockouts staff before it's too late.

Breakdown is completely caught off guard as Bulkhead grabs the shock staff and completely renders him useless as thousands upon thousands of volts of electricity go through his entire body before he falls to the ground unconscious. Bulkhead smirks at seeing the both of them taken down right before him. _'Now all that's left is—'_ "Arrh!" He suddenly yells out in pain as a light blur beam of light impacts his chest.

"You're a big one. This could take a while." Starscream taunts with sadistic smile as he keeps the harvesters beam trained on the wrecker and watches as swirls of blue pour off from the Autobot and into the harvester. Key to its name, Starscream has no reservations of using the artifact on a living being and since Bulkhead is bigger than the vehicon he sucked dry of energon earlier, he has a lot more flowing through him. Bulkhead falls onto one knee as his life force is slowly sapped before his very eyes.

*Ping*Ping*

"Huh?" Starscream questions in confusion as sparks fly off the harvester in his hands. To his dismay, he watches as the power fluctuates in the device before it begins powering down all together. "Wait, what?!" He questions confused and angry at its sudden shutdown. He shakes it a few times to try to get it to work but nothing. "What is wrong with this stupid…?" He begins to complain but he notices two small holes in its side. Looking off, he has to focus his optics before he spots something far off, on a cliff nearby. "Wait, is that that little- Ahh!" Starscream yelps in surprise as when he turns his head back, Bulkhead is right there in front of him.

"Hello!" He cheerily says with a smile and a wave of his fingers.

*Smack*

Right before he turns his fist into its wrecking ball and nails Starscream right in his smug face, embedding a good chunk of his body into the rock wall. The 'con groans as he sticks to the wall before slumping to the floor. Bulkhead breathes a few times, the act of having the energon from his body almost be sucked out of him was quite taxing but overall, he's alright. He holds his hand out and catches the harvester as it was thrown into the air after he hit Starscream. Looking at the device for a second, he turns around and gives Mason a thumbs up.

Mason returns the smile and holds his MECH rifle high into the hair one-handed to acknowledge the gesture from his friend. However he quickly jerks his head to the side and readies his rifle in both hands.

"You're a glutton for punishment, aren't you?" Knockout grimly asks as both he and his partner get ready to take on Bulkhead.

"Oh boy." Bulkhead groans at seeing the two back on their feet and ready to through down. He looks warily between the two off them as he holds the harvester tightly in one hand and transforms his free hand into a blaster. He gets ready to fight as he switches his aim between the two of them as they move menacingly close to him.

They don't get to however as a new ground bridge opens up a ways away from them, shifting everyone's attention to the new arrivals. Unfortunately for the Decepticons, the rest of team Autobot come flying out, blasters blazing as Optimus, Bumblebee, and Arcee let loose a barrage of blaster shots right at 'cons. Starscream having come to his senses wastes no time in fleeing. "Fight?" Breakdown asks Knockout, seeing as how they are severely outgunned, especially since their leader fled.

"Mm. Drive." Knockout opts to do instead. In agreement, the two of them transform and flee out of there before they get destroyed by their enemies. With no more 'cons in the area team prime stops firing and watch as the enemy flees before looking at the wrecker that came here almost on his own.

"Hey. Nice you to join the party." Bulkhead cheerily states at having gotten some additional backup and no longer in danger. Bumblebee beeps his worry for his friend. "Ah, I'm fine Bee. A little tired but nothing too bad. Would have been a lot worse off if it wasn't for Mason. Thanks."

"No problem." Mason replies as he walks up to them from behind. "I'm glad I came then. Things would have been bad if I wasn't watching your back."

"You shouldn't have come here Mason." Optimus wastes no time in scolding the human for having entered the combat area while he was still injured. "You are still recovering from your injuries from the museum."

Mason looks down at the scolding before looking up. "I know sir but I made sure I wasn't in the direct line of fire. I covered him from that cliff over there." He points to the cliffside where he and Bulkhead bridged in from, way far from being spotted and not an immediate threat for the 'cons. "This weapon has some serious range for the assault rifle variant." Mason comments as he holds up the rifle. Optimus looks sternly at the human before Bulkhead hands him the broken harvester. "Sorry for the harvester Optimus. Starscream was using it on Bulkhead and I kind of needed to get him to stop killing our guy here."

"Thanks again for that by the way."

"Your welcome."

Optimus stares at the two of them for a long while, disappointed in the both of them for having gone into combat without proper backup and injured, he can't argue with the results as he stares at the harvester in his hand. "While the loss of the harvester is an unfortunate one, the fact that you were able to keep the Decepticons from keeping the device is much more important."

"And intact too." Arcee comments as she gets a closer look at the orb. "If you just shot it a couple times, then if we're lucky Ratchet should be able to get it working again."

"Provided Bulkhead doesn't destroy anymore of his equipment."

"Oh come on! I was just angry!"

"Yeah you tend to do that at the worst of times!"

Mason and Bulkhead go back and forth in arguing with each other while Bumblebee looks on between the two and Arcee shakes her head. Optimus simply smiles a little at the friendliness the two are kind of having with each other, despite having been part of an almost perilous situation moments ago. "Ratchet, bridge us back." He calls.

* * *

"C'mon you little… gotcha!"

*Knock*Knock*Knock*

"Come in!" I yell and like usual, I continue to work on the rifle. "Hey."

"Hey Mason!"

"'Sup!"

"Hello." My human friends greet me as they come in but the loud steps and the opening of the big door shows their guardians are here as well.

"Jeez don't get up and greet us or anything." Miko sarcastically says.

"Yes I am sorry. It seems when your grounded by a several ton space solider you lose all semblance of your manners." I sarcastically reply to her.

"Yeah, I heard about that. What happened while I was gone?" She asks as she sits on the edge of the table I'm at and everyone moves close to me. It's the next day after the whole harvester fiasco and Fowler was able to get her out of trouble, along with Ratchet finishing the forgery. Since then, I have been pretty grounded to the bases interior for about a couple weeks for me leaving while I was injured and Bulkhead is to focus on recuperating after getting hit by the harvester.

"Some stuff. Nothing you need to worry about."

"He shot the harvester."

*Thud*

My head can't help but hit the table. "Seriously Arcee?" I ask her with a deadpan look. She simply shrugs with a cheeky smile.

"Whoa whoa whoa! You shot the ancient Cybertronian device that we spent a lot of time and effort into getting just for you to break it?!... Is that why Ratchet was grumbling while he was looking at it earlier?" She asks the last question to the two Autobots Bumblebee and Arcee, who nod.

"Yes Miko, I did. Now could you please stop reminding me of that little fact while I'm working on not breaking this thing?" I ask annoyed while I work on the receiver.

"What are you working on?" Thankfully Raf changes the subject.

"Working on the MECH rifle I picked up back on the train. I had to piece it back together quickly to help Bulkhead and after feeling the force of when I fired, I want to figure out what and how this thing fires." I explain. The way how this thing fired was both powerful and smooth. Pretty sure I also didn't see any shell casings fly out when I fired. There isn't even an ejection port now that I look at it. "Hang on…"

"Oh come one man. What's there to see? It's a gun. Isn't it just like all other types of guns you have? Just more, advanced." Miko boringly states.

"It would… if it followed the same principle as a modern firearm." I mumble in reply as I take out the magazine. When I was working on the rifle before, I had only pulled off a few pieces and worked around the barrel area down. I was being careful before, now I don't think I need to be overly cautious. "Whoa…" I mutter as I see the bullets don't even have any shell casings. Just the bullets. "What the…" I moan as I start grabbing my tools to crack this thing open.

"Find something?" Jack asks and everyone leans in.

"How did they get them to fire?" I mutter the question as I find the right spots and screws to get this thing open. The bullets need the casings to fire because of the standard way of shooting in todays firearms, from the gunpowder mixture that are even released when the pin hits the casing to propel the bullet forward and then ejects the spent casing.

This gun has neither casing bullets, nor an ejection port.

"No way… this can't be…" I mutter, much to the confusion of my friends as when I finally get the receiver open, my hunch is correct. "Ho… ly… crap."

"Dude, what'd you find? Come on don't keep us in suspense!" I all but ignore Miko.

"Find something good?" Arcee asks a little less than enthusiastically than Miko but still curious.

Slowly, I look up from my examination. "Magnetic rails." I whisper with a grin.

This possibly just changed so much for me.

* * *

 **Wow. I am just getting these chapters, out aren't I? I said I wanted to make it up to you all for leaving you high and dry for a few months and I meant it. So I should be working quickly to get these chapters out so I can eventually do the same to my other stories. Because of these quick chapters I'm making, please excuse any spelling or grammar errors I might make.**

 **In fact there's also a point I really want to get to as it'll be a turning point for Mason and I feel like it'll be really awesome to finally get it down on words.**

 **Here's the reviews:**

 **Blaze1992:** To be honest, when it comes to taking lives I feel Optimus has no problem with those lives being Decepticons but he definitely doesn't like the idea of severely hurting or outright killing humans. Mason, after taking out the 'con on the nemesis, has no reservations about killing regardless if their human or 'con. Either one seems like they don't care about the innocent or civilian casualties, so he won't care about them, not like Optimus who still will try to save and protect all humans. As for shooting the helicopter, he wasn't going to focus on trying to go for a kill shot after all the effort in saving D.N.G.S., just wanted MECH out of his hair right then and there. This was my basic understanding of how everything went and I hope this was an alright explanation.

 **serius:** It was one thing to simply to get the objective done but now Mason has a new toy that'll go a long way in influencing his own equipment. As for MECH, guess we'll see just how angry they'll get in the future with him. I'm glad you liked it and I hope I continue to make great work.

 **Fluffy guy:** I'm glad you feel that way. I enjoyed it too.

 **Alphabet:** Thanks. Always nice to hear people feel that way when it comes to stories.

 **Thank you all for your support. Make sure to fave, follow, review, have a great day, hope the new year is starting off alright for you all, and as always, have fun reading.**


	13. 12 Predatory

**Bet some of you were probably just a little surprised at the episode skip. Well I'm not going to work on every single episode in the series so at times I may skip some to ease up on the work for me and advance the storyline so bear with me on this when that happens. With that cleared up on why he's going to dealing with a new enemy rather than a street race, lets get on with it.**

* * *

Well, things have taken a few interesting turns since the last mission I went on. For example, after figuring out that MECH basically was able to come up with magnetic railgun technology to send their projectiles flying at wherever they were shooting their enemies, I got to work on upgrading my workshop and coming up with some designs.

Bu more on that later, first I want to mention the fact that Jack and Bumblebee were in big trouble. Well, actually everyone minus Ratchet and myself were in trouble. Pretty much since Optimus especially prohibited me from participating in any form mission, and I seriously doubt he'd force me to stay here against my will, I decided to focus on working on my equipment to make everything as best as we can make it. Namely Ratchet and myself were working on the assembly line to make it that much efficient. So now on top of the precise claw movements, high precision lasers and so on, I'm liking how its turning out. Hell Ratchet was tempted to work on anything important in my room because of the equipment and so Bulkhead doesn't break anything that he needs. Either way, the computer has been overhauled too to go along with the new assembly line so now I can input the data and schematics I want and with enough material, I can make what I want a reality. There are still some tweaks I need to do in order to make it perfect but it's a step in the right direction. Before I can think to replicate the railgun tech I need to finish those tweaks and Ratchet can come up with his own designs too. Its one thing for the plans to simply be of human design, adding Cybertron tech and ideas however… amazing.

In fact, its because we've been working on my room and stuff that we kind of weren't roped into the stuff that happened with the others. Here's the run down: Jack and Arcee raced a local town bully named Vince and when she didn't want to participate in a big underground circuit race, he roped Bumblebee into racing. Next, 'cons kidnapped Vince mistaking him for Bumblebee's human, Arcee and Bulkhead tried to help but go in over their heads. Miko and Raf tried to cover for them but they are horrible liars so Optimus found out and saved everyones bacon, and promptly gave a very stern reprimand of everyone for apparently being so reckless. All the while, Ratchet and I watched, a slight smirk on my face, during our break and when Optimus was done we went back to working.

All in all, it's nice to not be in the hot seat, or in Optimuses sights. Now its been some weeks, enough time for my base incarceration order to be over with, and I can get back to come and go as I please and go out on possible missions.

Or in this case, patrol.

"Ah! Really wish I'd packed some insect repellent." Jack complains as a mosquito starts annoying the hell out of him. "The mosquitoes out here on this routine recon are the size of vampire bats. And they drink just about as much blood. Ah!" He slaps it but misses. I smirk at the trouble he's having with a few bugs.

"Quite the outdoorsman, aren't you, Jack?" Arcee taunts at him as she scans the area with a remote scanner. We apparently got some weird readings that may be energon in origin and we're here to investigate. Originally it was going to just be Jack and Arcee but I didn't want to be cooped up in the base any longer so I asked to tag along.

The small pack on my back, shotgun strapped behind me, M16 in hand, pistol on my hip, I'd say I'm glad to be out. The MECH rifle is still disassembled back in my room so I can continue working on it. As much as I'd love to bring it with me in case of 'con attacks, I can't let the only version of the gun I have at my disposal be possibly lost or destroyed. "City life Arcee. Hard to adjust." I jest to my friend a little.

"Oh come on. You can't tell me you're not annoyed by all this?" Jack asks as he waves another mosquito away.

"Hehe, Jack, I was traveling for a while before I came to Jasper. Mosquitos, the wind, storms, cold, dry heat. I've dealt with it all. You learn to adjust. I even got mugged a couple times." I answer like its no big deal.

"Seriously?" Arcee asks curiously as we come to a stop.

"Well, tried. Usually for someone my age they don't expect me to be carrying a gun, or know how to knock them out with a few defensive moves." I answer with a smirk.

"Impressive." She comments.

"Well, laugh at my skills all you want you two," Jack says, "But what I lack in skills I make up for with my survival kit."

"Really?" She smirks at him.

"I may not have stinger-proof metal skin, Arcee, or nifty martial arts moves, Mason, but in a pinch, I can use my multi-function pocketknife and magnesium fire starter to cook up some freeze-dried Mac and cheese." He boasts.

' _He's not wrong. A gun can only do so much in the wild.'_ I have that thought for a second until I remember the last part he said. "Ohhh, Mac and cheese. I forgot the last time I had that." I've always eaten mostly fast food bought food and quick to eat snacks when I was traveling. Been a long time since I had a home cooked meal. _'I gotta get the utilities back at the base sorted out soon.'_

"You two have your tools. I have mine." She states with a wave of her scanner. Just as she says that though, it goes off. "That's odd. Ratchet's satellite scans were accurate. But subterranean energon deposits don't cause this kind of surge."

"So, what it's something else?" I ask, making sure to look around just in case.

"Don't know. Hold on, this way." She states and leads us further ahead. Jack and I follow her quietly with me having my rifle ready just in case. It isn't long before we find the first indicator of what those strange readings are as a huge swatch of the land has been carved with a deep groove and trees are torn out.

"Holy…" I mutter at the devastation.

"What happened here?" Jack asks what's on our minds.

"Crash landing. Stay behind me, low and close." She orders and we move forward, following the destruction and possible direction. Arcee moves far ahead of us but still close enough so we can see or get her attention. It isn't long until we find the primary source of it all. A giant crashed ship. Not big like the Decepticons Nemesis but still a similar design I feel.

"Autobot or Decepticon?" Jack asks quietly.

"Can't tell." Arcee answers unsure.

"I'm leaning towards Decepticon." I mutter quietly.

"Wait here." She states and shifts her right hand into her blaster. Jack and I stay put and keep an eye out for anything while she goes to figure out where this ship came from.

"What do you think? Think that ships trouble?" Jack asks me from my right.

I don't look at him as I look for any distinguishing marks on the hull but I do answer. "Considering it didn't make a smooth landing, or looks pretty menacing to begin with, yeah I'd say it's trouble."

"But what type? Decepticons?"

"Is there any other kind?"

"Well, their was MECH that one time."

"Oh yeah, true. Still, space vessel… 'con." I surmise.

"Agreed." He agrees too.

Several minutes pass after our little conversation that we begin to worry that something is wrong. _'Arcee's been gone for awhile now. I hope she's… oh.'_ My thoughts are cut off as we see her emerge out of the ship, looking like hell. "Arcee?" Jack asks worriedly and runs to her. As we get close, I can't help but notice that she's got this weird look about her, one of… fear. "Arcee? What's wrong?" Once he asks again does it snap her out of her funk.

"I know who this ship belongs to." She ominously states. "Arcee to base. I need a ground bridge asap." She quickly gets on the comm and immediately tries to call the others as she begins walk away from the ship.

"W-wait. Why? Whose ship is this?" Jack asks as we follow her.

"Yeah, c'mon Arcee tell us what we're dealing with." I somewhat demand as I glance around. If whoever the ship belongs to has her this freaked out and ready to get the hell out of dodge, then it clearly can't be good.

She ignores of however in favor of continuing to try to reach the base. "Base, do you read? Scrap. Com link's dead. The ship's got to be transmitting a high-frequency scrambler pulse." She says and starts walking away faster with the both of us following, albeit confused on our parts as we make distance between us and the ship.

"A signal jammer. Great." I groan as I continue to keep an eye out around us. As a thought, I pull out my phone and check if its true and it is. My phone is completely without signal either.

"A-Arcee? You're kind of freaking me out here."

"Ditto." I agree with Jack.

"Wait here." She states firmly without room to argue and leaves just like that.

"What's with her?"

"I don't know man. That ships really got her freaked out if she's telling us to wait all the time." I answer Jack's question. Only a few minutes pass before we both decide to go looking for her. Well, Jack left and I followed just in case, more so if Arcee is really freaked out then I don't want us split up in this place. We go in the general direction we saw her go and it isn't that hard to follow her footsteps to find her. Thing is when we find her she's staring at something and frozen in place with a far off look on her face. She's reminding me of… well, me when I had killed that Decepticon awhile back.

"Arcee?" Jack asks worriedly once we come up to her. I check all around us again just to make sure nothing is going to jump us. Without any words after we find her, she transforms.

"Climb on." She orders. Not wanting to argue, we get on. "Mason on the back." She specifies. We both look at each other before Jack gets on and puts on his helmet with me next. "Hang on." At the tone of her voice, I hold onto Jack tightly.

"Whoa! Woah! Ahh! Whoa!" Jack yells as we speed forward faster than ever riding before along with the bumps that come with the terrain. I hold onto dear life while Jack does the same on the handlebars. "Arcee!" From Jack's freakedout voice, I barely see a small ravine ahead of us and hold on tighter as Arcee jumps it. We land hard on the ground before coming to a hard stop. "Okay, was that really necessary?" He complains as he takes off the helmet.

"Arcee to base. Scrap!" She's pissed when she doesn't get a response. Jack and I get off her

"Look, I've seen danger before. Heck Mason has even taken on Decepticons before. What's the –" He begins to ask but she cuts him off.

"Wait here. I mean it this time." She orders again. _'Okay, now I'm starting to get annoyed.'_

"Okay, first you shut me out. And now you're ditching us? I thought I was your partner. I thought he'd at least have your back. At least he's armed." Jack states as he points to me. I'm thankful that he considers that of me but as Arcee transforms, I'm not liking the look she has on her face.

"You honestly think those little pea shooters will do anything? You think you can take HER on?!" She says loudly and angrily at the both of us before directing the last part at me. The way how she moves closer actually forces us back a few steps, considering the fact that we have NEVER seen her like this before or this harsh. The only time I've seen her is when she knocked some sense into me when we got back from the Nemesis the first time. This time though it feels different. "No, Jack, you're both just kids. You're only here because this was supposed to be no-risk and you juts tagged along. Got it?" She harshly states, saying the first part to Jack and the second to me. She gets in both our faces with a hard look on hers. _'Wow, I've never seen her this serious before.'_ The both of us can only watch as she transforms and leaves us here. She jumps the ravine easily enough, forcing us to stay as she takes off deeper into the forest without. After the massive reprimand she gave us right now, the both of us are kind of silent as we stare where she left. My rifle dangles to my right as I let my arm loosely hang there.

The silence is interrupted however as Jack walks forward. I stare at him for a second before I follow him silently. We both stop and look down in the ravine before he begins climbing down. As soon as he gets a hold firm hold with his feet, he stares at me. "What? You're not going to stop me?" He asks.

"We both know if I leave you here, you're just going to follow." I reply. With that said, I take off shotgun and throw both it and my rifle onto the other side of the ravine. With a running start, I heave the pack as well onto the other side. Once both are across, I look back at him with a smile. "And she should have realized if she left us here, we're going to follow." I say as I start climbing down with him. Jack may have been designated as her official human partner, but I'd like to think that I'm both their partners too. And if Arcee is planning to take on some unknown threat, at least unknown to Jack and I, then we want to be there to back her up. As harsh as her words were about my guns, she isn't wrong still. Most bots will only get a bit of pain and annoyance when shot in the face with my weapons. If anything, Jack and I can be a distraction to whatever we may face with her. If I could work at it, I'm sure I could take down another Decepticon, provided they aren't too tough. _'The one I took down was simply a grunt, so the more unique ones like Soundwave will be a bit harder for me to take down.'_

Back to our treck, thankfully the ravine isn't deep enough for us to be in any major danger. It just took a minute for us to get to the bottom and make our way back up to the top on the other side. As soon as we get up, I pull the pack onto my back, and hold the M16 with both hands ready to go. "C'mon. Let's go find out girl." He nods towards me and we go looking.

* * *

A couple hours pass into relative silence as we go around the forest looking for our Autobot. Her tracks disappeared soon after we saw her leave when she left us so the best we can do is keep silent and try to look and listen for her or anyone else.

Once the hours pass we decide to make camp in order to rest, eat and get our bearings. Plus, I've had this freaky and paranoid feeling that we're being watched. Right now the two of us are sitting in the tent and eating some of that freeze-dried Mac and Cheese he mentioned earlier.

"Mmmm." I moan as I take of the cheesy goodness. "Wow. This is good. Nice choice." I thank him.

"Thanks." We delve into a small silence between us as we eat. Once we're done, we just sit, wait and rest for now. Soon I can't help but notice Jack is getting some worried looks. "Hey, Mason, you think Arcee's okay?" He asks after a moments hesitation. "She looked kind of… freaked out before."

I look at him before thinking. "Honestly… it's hard to say. Physically I'm sure she's fine. We haven't heard any fighting to say otherwise. But mentally…" I look down at that bit before looking back at my friend. "That ship has her spooked on all kind of levels. So much that she doesn't want us anywhere near it or whoever it belonged to. Until we can find her, all we can do is hope she's alright." I give him my best answer.

"I guess." Jack sulks at the idea we can only hope for now and I don't blame him. We're still in the dark right now about the whole thing and its starting to annoy the both of us. _'Please be alright Arcee.'_

*Crash*

"Uhh!"

"What was that?" Jack asks as we hear noises from outside. Loud noises.

"Let me check." I grab my rifle and move outside before quickly scanning around. Nothing jumps out to me as odd about our surroundings, or any changes since we last moved around here.

"Well? What is it?" Jack asks as he comes out and looks too.

"I don't see anything. Whatever it was it's probably…" I trail off as I begin to hear something.

"Probably? Probably what?"

"Sshhh!" I shush him and hold my hand up for him to be quiet. He gets it and closes his mouth for us to listen. Silence is what greets us as we stay silent… but that doesn't last long. Soon I begin to hear voices coming from further down and away from us. "You hear that?"

"Yeah. It's this way." Jack says and starts moving forward. I'm a little annoyed that he's taking the lead when I'm the one that has the gun but go regardless. We pass by several trees as we hear the distinct sounds of Cybertronian combat. We soon come over a small hill that goes down to where the source is.

We see Arcee taking on some Decepticon and she's winning. Unfortunately, as we get closer some rocks near Jack roll down the hill, getting both the bots attention. It's also what the purple 'con uses as the advantage to hit Arcee then stick her to the rock wall with I think some spider web.

"Arcee!" Jack and I yell as we get closer after seeing her get pinned like that. As soon as the 'con hears us, she turns right around and hisses at us. I aim my rifle at her but thankfully Arcee manages to shoot her in the back, knocking her away from all of us.

"I told you to wait for me!" She yells at us as I sling my rifle on my back next to my shotgun and we both try to free her.

"Well, partners don't ditch partners." Jack retorts as we both try to tear this stuff off her.

"You honestly think we're going to leave you alone to deal with this?" I ask not expecting an answer from her but still.

"Get this through your heads you two… Neither of you are my partners. You got lucky with that grunt you killed but you're both a liability." She scolds us harshly. When I look at Jack though, he doesn't seem convinced and neither am I. The talk she gave me to make me feel better after I took down that grunt says differently.

"I don't believe you. I can see it in your eyes. You're afraid, Arcee, and you're never afraid." She gets that look again at Jack's statement. Its true that of the time I've seen her, she has almost never been afraid of anything but never as terrified as she is now.

"You're right, Jack. I am afraid… Of losing you." Jack stops and looks at her. "Of both of you." That makes me stop as well. _'She's… that scared?'_

"You sure have trouble hanging on to your partners, don't you?" I turn around and aim my rifle at the 'con as she gets back up and makes her way to us. "We both know what happened to Tailgate. But I recently picked up some Decepticon radio chatter regarding the passing of Cliffjumper."

"Cliffjumper?" I mutter quietly, a pang of regret hitting me at the mention of the Autobots name.

"At some point you really have to ask yourself, Arcee, 'is it them, or is it me?'" She taunts our guardian. My grip tighten on my rifle as I prepare to fire.

"Do you get it now, you two?" I look back at Arcee. "She's not interested in me. She hunts indigenous species, and she's on earth. That means humans. You!" She yells with a scared look on her face. Once I've never- "RUUNN!" She yells at us even louder. The fear in her eyes, scared, and worry… We have to go.

"Move… move move move!" I yell as I push Jack away, just as the 'con covers Arcee's free arm with more web. We can only look on in regret as we are forced to run from her friend but with that thing having disabled our guardian, theirs nothing we can do and my weapons don't have enough punch. Before we get over the hill we look back to see Arcee is still fine, but the 'con has her sights set on us. "Move." I darkly say and we run. "JAAACK! MAASSSOOON!" We stop as we hear Arcee calling our names but the stomps of the 'con force us to keep moving for I think is our very lives.

* * *

Over an hour passes as night passes over us. Jack is tired and I'm starting to get winded as well as we kept running without stop. "That's the spirit, you two. Play hard to get." We can hear the 'con playfully say to us. That kicks us into high gear as we gain a second wind and me slinging my rifle on my back so I can go faster.

No more sounds behind us can be heard or voices so that offers us up a bit of relief. We pass by a fallen log and trying to move over it makes us stop for a second to catch our breaths. We take deep breaths in our moment to stop but its then we hear a howl. We stare at each other before ducking back under the log. "Oh man. What are we going to do Mason?" Jack asks me quietly.

"Huhhh, huhh, I don't… I'm not sure. I'm sorry I—" My mouth freezes as I begin to hear something.

Jack begins to open his mouth but I quickly cover it shut. My free hand puts a finger to my own mouth to keep quiet. Just as I do, the steps of the 'con that's been chasing us moves ever so closer to us. I hear the 'cons long spider-like legs pierce the ground behind the log as she comes closer and closer. The beating of my heart is deafening as I slowly move back and away from my friend.

My heart drops as the 'con peaks over the log and we are just under her. Ever so slowly I reach behind me and slip my shotgun into my hands. Sweat pours down my face and so does Jack's as she peers all around, looking for any sign of us. _'We ran for a long time straight. How the hell did she find us?!'_ I yell in my head as I try to figure out how easily she was able to find us, or at least come this close to us. My heart starts to beat a little easier as she slowly retracts her head from on top of the log. Looks of relief grace both our faces and I let out a completely silent breath of slow air.

*Tap*… *Tap*

Two of her long thins legs appear on either side of in front of us, expecting her to continue forward.

"Hello, you two."

*BOOM*

"Arrrhhhhh!"

"MOVE!" I yell as loud as I can while the 'con is grabbing her face in pain. Shooting a shotgun round point blank in the face kind of does that. Jack climbs over while I roll under the log. He quickly helps me to my feet before we start running as fast as we can away from our pursuer.

"Look out!" Jack shouts and pushes me to the side away from him. Just as he does, a glob of web passes by and hits the tree between us. I roll on the ground for a second before getting to my feet and taking steps away. My hands are empty now because when Jack pushed me, my shotgun got caught in the web and is now pinned to the tree but I can't worry about that now.

"Split up! Keep running!" I call out to Jack and get a nod as we begin running in opposite directions.

"Ohhhh, splitting up. This'll be interesting. I do love a challenge." I can hear her hiss in pleasure behind me. I glance back to see her right where we split up at the web-ridden tree. I see her glance to Jack's direction and begin to make her way after him. _'NO!'_ Sliding to a stop, I pull my M16 rifle from my back, get into a crouching stance and take aim.

"Arh!" The 'con yelps in a bit of pain as I fire several rounds into her from behind. She recoils a bit in pain but soon turns around and glares at me with deadly intent.

"You want a challenge?! THEN COME ON!" I taunt loudly at her before running like hell away from her. As soon as I begin running though I begin to hear the rapid steps of her thin legs following hastily. "Ohgodohgodthatwasstupidthatwasstupid that. Was. Stupid." I hiss to myself.

* * *

"Huuu… huuu… oh man."

"Come now… Mason was it? You can give me a better challenge than that. You even offered."

"Oh come on!" I quietly yell to myself in anger that I've been running for over an hour and she still found me! I look left and right till I move around behind a tree and try to get my breathing back in order while also trying to figure out how to deal with my pursuer. _'Okay… okay… how? How is she finding us? How, while she was casually strolling about, was she able to keep up and track us throughout this entire forest? It's like she's…'_

My thoughts trail off as when I look down I see my feet. Slowly I look to the side and follow my footsteps all the way back. _'She's a tracker. She's been following our tracks.'_ The answer to how she's been following us makes itself quite known and now I need to figure out how to stop her. I look all around me for some way to possibly be able to make it that much harder for her to find me.

My eyes land on a thick leafy branch on the tree I'm hiding behind. I jump up and grab the branch before twisting it and tearing it right off the trunk of the tree. I land easily enough with the branch and leaves in hand before smiling and pulling out the knife I took from those guys in the alleyway awhile back.

"Alright… you wanted a challenge… Let's see if you can find me now."

* * *

Arachnid finds this whole chase way too easy. The forest provides such an easy and exotic place for her to hunt prey and the humans are no exception to the case. Not only will she have one trophy to add to her collection but now she may have two. It'll take her awhile to find Jack after she finishes hunting Mason but that only adds to the challenge she craves.

"Al… most… there." She mutters to herself as she slowly and stealthily moves across the forest floor, not even bothering to move quickly to follow the tracks the clumsy humans have been leaving behind. She's tracked and taken down all kinds of prey to add to her collection all over the galaxy and soon she's this close to adding some more. It also doesn't help that she now feels just a little bit of a personal stake in adding Mason to her collection, considering he shot her a few times. The face shot was especially painful and the rest were annoyances at best. Soon her tracking of the footprints lead her to a lone tree. Using only the thin spider legs she possesses, she slowly and menacingly moves close to the tree. She bares the claws in her hands and gains a sadistic smile on her face after finally finding him. _'Didn't even try.'_ She thinks disappointingly. Once she's close enough, she gives a toothy grin and pounces. "Hello—!" Her greeting dies in her throat as she comes up with nothing. "Hm?" She hums in confusion. Looking back again, she sees the tracks leading up to the tree and finds two shoe prints placed backwards against the tree leading up to them. But besides that, there are no other tracks that show where he left. In fact the whole area around seems to have been disturbed with leaves, twigs and dirt thrown all over but no other prints. "Huuu." She moans at having lost him completely now. _'Well, isn't he a clever one. I may have to step up my game.'_ She thinks with a slight smile at having now lost her prey. She moves out into the open and slowly looks around for any other signs of where he went. "Now… where are you?"

"LIKE I'D TELL YOU." She tenses up at the new voice and turns around but find nothing. "YOUR GOOD, I'LL GIVE YOU THAT." She looks around again to try and find the voice but she finds nothing. "BUT AT THE VERY LEAST, MAY I HAVE THE NAME OF MY WOULD-BE PREDATOR?" As she thinks about it now, the voice comes off as a loud echo all around her and she can't pinpoint it down. She purses her lips in concentration.

"Well, this is a surprising change of events." Arachnid states with a smile to all around her as she turns. "If you must know, I'm Arachnid… or has Arcee forgotten little old me?"

"NO, SHE HASN'T. NOT THAT SHE WANTED TO TELL US, I JUST DON'T THINK SHE CARES FOR BOTS LIKE YOU." Mason taunts back to her. Making her smile drop in slight irritation.

"Come now, she surely couldn't have forgotten about poor old Tailgate now could she?" She replies to Mason, still looking all around for him.

"FROM WHAT I CAN TELL, I THINK SHE JUST DOESN'T WANT TO BRING UP OLD PAIN. YOU HOWEVER…"

*Bang*

"Arh!" Arachnid yells in pain as bullet ricochets off the side of her face.

"SEEM TO RELISH IN IT. TRYING TO MAKE HER FEEL BAD FOR PAST MISTAKES IF YOU ALSO BROUGHT UP CLIFFJUMPER." She hisses in anger and moves in the direction where the bullet came from. She doesn't bother to keep quiet as her legs tap the ground rapidly. She looks around for anymore signs of Mason being there but comes up with nothing. "YEAH IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THAT EASY ARACHNID. YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO BE DEALING WITH A POOR HELPLESS PREY BUT YOUR ON MY PLANET NOW!" Her hear whips around with growing anger as she continues to try to find the source.

*Bang*

"Grrr!" She growls in anger at the shot hitting her from behind. She goes back and shoots out several globs of webbing silk but none of them hit their mark on who she wants to now disembowel.

"AWWW IS THE LITTLE SPIDER GETTING ANGRY?! WELL TOO BAD!"

*BANG*

"YOU MESSED WITH MY FRIENDS!"

*BANG*BANG*

"YOU THOUGHT I WAS JUST GOING TO BE AN EASY MARK HUH?! WELL YOU GOTTA WORK FOR IT IF YOU WANT IT!"

*BANG*BANG*BANG*

"RAAAAAAH!" Arachnid shouts angrily as she continuously gets harassed from what feels like all directions. "Enough of this!" She hisses angrily and soon starts attacking everything around her. She transforms back into her bot form and starts punching, stabbing and bashing down trees around her. She also sends more web silk in every direction and above. All the while gunshots keep raining down on her, further angering her, until she is striking with blind rage. Even though she is beyond angry, she homes in on where the bullets are coming from. She comes right up to a large branch ridden tree and strikes it hard, sending cracks spiderwebbing all over the tree.

"Whoa!" Mason yells in surprise as the tree begins to topple as Arachnid attacks and slices it multiple times, damaging the trunk until it finally begins to topple. She watches in sadistic pleasure as the tree topples all the way to the ground until with gleeful pleasure she watches as her prey lands on the ground in a roll with the tree he was on collapsing right next to him. He takes a moment to catch his breath before turning around and seeing the teeth filled smile Arachnid is giving him.

"Foooouunnd yooouuuu." She almost sings as her thin legs on her back flare up, her claws move menacingly and she bends her knees, ready to pounce.

"… Shit." Mason curses to himself and sprints forward.

Arachnid doesn't let him go away as she takes off after her prey. Mason runs with his rifle in hand as he twists the rifle to his left, flinging the empty magazine out while pulling out a fresh mag and putting it in. Just as he does though, he stops cold and jumps to right. Arachnids claw misses him and slams into the tree he dodged past instead. He rolls over onto his back and fires several rounds at her. She brings her free arm up and covers her face from the bullets while she wrenches her claw from the tree. Mason moves back onto his feet and resumes running. She grits her teeth angrily as she frees herself and runs after the human that's been toying with her. She easily catches up to him but he jumps as she tries to go for his legs, ducks as she goes for his body, namely his head, and moves closely past trees, forcing her large stature to go around them or block her attacks. He even turns around at time to put a few rounds at her, further raising her ire.

"COME HERE!" She yells angrily and tries to stab one last time at him once they're in the open. Mason barely manages to jump to avoid her strike from behind but her attack hits the ground hard, sending chunks of dirt and rock up and making Mason lose his balance. He lands on the ground and rolls on it before getting back to his feet and aiming at Arachnid.

"Oof!" Before he can shoot however, one of her thin legs opens up and hits him right in the chest. His feet leave the ground as he's forced into the air and slams roughly in to a tree. He grunts from the impact and tries to bring his rifle up one-handed but its quickly knocked out of his hands. "Guh!" Another of her thin legs surges forward and pins itself against his neck. Both his hands fly up to try to pull it off but considering who they belong to, there is no way his meager strength can even hope to free him now.

"Well well well… it is soooo nice to make your acquaintance." Arachnid brings her face in right up to him and sarcastically says with a smile.

Mason for his part grunts and lightly chokes at the situation he's in, but chuckles back at her to humor her. "Hehe, likewise… Arachnid."

"You… are by far… the most interesting prey I have ever had the pleasure of chasing! You got me good a couple times." She says as she moves her head around a few times and rolls her shoulders. There are some scratches about her from his gunshots but nothing serious. His shots may have hit her in the joints a couple times and that may have been just a bit more painful in retrospect.

"Glad I could be so accommodating." He replies.

She stares at him for a few more seconds as she begins to think about the prey in front of her. "You know, as much as it would be so satisfying to kill you and mount your head on that special spot I have set up in my ship, I'm thinking it would be such a… waste to end the life of someone so resilient against impossible odds."

"Hm," Mason scoffs at the flattery she's showing herself. _'Impossible odds…'_ He thinks. "So, what do you have in mind then? What do I get that some of your other targets don't?"

"Well, I couldn't offer this chance to some of the other prey I'd consider since most are animals that couldn't take it if they wanted to… but you…" She chuckles as she brings in one of her claws and gently brushes the tip against his face. "I think you'd make a fine pet."

' _PET?!'_ While Mason is seething in his mind at the idea, he doesn't let the feelings show outwards less she take advantage of it. He does look angry though. "Pet, huh? While I appreciate the offer, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

"Ha ha ha haaa!" She laughs out loud with her head thrown back. Mason grimaces at the laugh before she comes down from her laughing fit and leans back into him. "Oh come now! It'll be fun. I can take you to so many exotic places that you've never seen before and watch as I add so many more trophies to my collection… after I get Jack of course." She gives him a sadistic grin at that last part. Mason growls under his breath in growing anger as his hands gripping the leg clamp against his throat tighten even harder but still does nothing against her. "But first, every pet needs a mark or something to show who they belong to." Mason's pupils shrink at the idea before ever so slowly she brings her right clawed hand up. A green liquid foam begins to coat the tip of her finger and a hiss of smoke can be seen emanating from it. He begins to struggle as she brings it close to him. "Now now, don't struggle," She presses his right arm against the tree with her left while her burning claw agonizingly comes close to his arm. He can only watch in horror as it drifts closer and closer to him, already feeling the heat before it makes contact. "This'll only hurt for a second."

Then… the burning.

* * *

*SSSSSS*

"…aaaaAAAHHHHHH!" I can't keep quiet as the burning sensation turns to almost mind-numbing as she drags the line down my upper. I don't know what it is that she secreted from her claw but it's almost blindingly painful right now. What feels like minutes really only happened for a few seconds comes to a stop and she retracts her claw. Even without her burning me, the burning pain of what she just did still lingers on me. Breathing raggedly, I look at my right arm to see the damage. A long thin line of burning skin and flesh runs half the length of my upper arm in the middle. I groan as I see the injury mark on me.

"There. That should do for now. Once that's healed up I'll go ahead and do the rest. How do you feel?" Even through my haze of pain, I can almost feel the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"…" I don't offer any form of answer to her immediately as I stare at the wound. I let my arm drop and stare at her with a very dark look. "I… am going… to tear your head off and keep it as MY trophy." Her optics slightly widen at my threat but she also gains just a barely visible smile. "The last thing you will see before your spark will be snuffed out… will be ME standing over you… AS I cut your head off."

"…" She is clearly surprised at my threat as she stares at me with wide optics and open mouth. "Hehe… your cute to think you could do that." She taps my head with her left claw in a playful manner.

The depths of my anger knows no bounds… She's pretty close to getting me there now though.

We stare at each other, a playful smile on her face, and a dark seething look on mine.

*BOOOOM*

A massive explosion goes off in the distance, sending a mushroom cloud of fire into the air and sends a wave of wind hitting us. "What?!" Arachnid shouts in confused surprise as she looks at explosion that seemingly came from out of nowhere. However from the look she soon adopts, I think she knows what it is that made the explosion. "Noooo… My ship!" She angrily yells once she figures out where it emanated from. My hand reaches behind me.

"Arachnid."

"WHAT?!" She yells in bloody anger after seeing her ship blow up. When she looks at me, she sees a barrel and a smile.

"Welcome to Earth."

*BANG*

"Arrrhhh!" She clutches her face in pain as the round from my Jericho pistol impacts her face. Her thin legs curl up as she takes a few steps back as she writhes painfully. Finally I am free as I land roughly on the ground.

I fall to one knee as I grip my arm that's still burning from the mark she gave me. Not wanting to stay here anymore, especially in her presence, I start running as fast as I can away from her. Ideally, since the explosions is the only indicator of anything in this place, I head to it as fast I can so I can hopefully find the others and get some help. My feet trudge along as fast as I can make them but the pain from the mark, the hours of running I've been doing all night, it's not as fast as I would have liked.

Minutes pass as I run haphazardly almost non-stop but I smile as I feel myself getting closer to the source of the explosion and finding the others. "Oof!"

"Ah!"

Or they find me.

I slam into something as I pass by a tree and I and it go tumbling to the ground. We both groan for a second before we both look. I have never been as happy as I am to have found Jack. "Jack!"

"Mason! Oh man it's so good to see you!" He reciprocates the relief I am feeling as he helps me stand.

"Likewise. Were you heading to the explosion too?" I ask.

"No. I was heading away from it." He answers.

"Huh?" I ask confused.

"I was the one that caused it."

Pretty sure my eyes almost bug out as I see glimpse the smoldering remains of the ship and look at my friend. "You? How?"

"Survival kit." He answers with a smile and pulls out the magnesium fire starter. "And energon is surprisingly flammable."

I can't help but let out a small chuckle at my friend for his quick thinking. "Wow, nice one Jack. You literally saved my life with that explosion." I tell him as we begin jogging away.

"I was kind of hoping it would. I heard the gunshots earlier and when they suddenly stopped, I got worried." He explains what he remembers. "Sooo I figured as a way to distract the 'con, and get a little payback, boom." He makes a mini-explosion with his hands.

I shake my head at that but I still smile nonetheless. "Nice Jack. Very nic- Look out!" I quickly push Jack out of the way as something white suddenly hits me. While Jack grunts as he's pushed, I fly through the air and grunt as I hit the tree and am stuck to it.

"Mason!" Jack yells my name in worry but soon he's stuck on a different tree as well.

"Oh no." I moan at what this means for us. I try to pull myself free but I'm completely stuck here. What even rubs salt in my wounds is the fact that my pistol was dropped in front of me out of my reach.

"Thought you could get away from me?" I hear Arachnids voice emanate towards us from above. I look up to see her in the branches above before she begins slowly bringing herself down to the ground and lands in front of us. Her multiple legs tick as she moves right up to me and brings her face close to me. "So close… and yet so far."

"What can I say… couldn't hurt to try." I say with a cheeky smile. She has a smile on her face as well, before she then presses a claw to my wound. "Aaaaaaah." I hiss as the wound flares up.

"Leave him alone!" I hear Jack yell at her from his spot on the tree. Arachnid for her part does let up on the pressure but she glances to him out of the corner of her eye.

"… You know, I think you need to learn a lesson before becoming my pet." My fingers grip tightly as she mentions that again, especially in front of Jack. "And I think a good example is watching me make an example of your friend for destroying my ship!" She crossly says as she whirls around and stalks toward Jack.

"What?! No no! Don't you dare!" I yell in defiance but it's a hollow threat right now as she continues going over to Jack. She leans in close to my friend and bares her claws. The look of fear on Jack's face hurts as I can do nothing to help him. "STOP!" I yell but she only gets an evil smile on her face as she brings her claws dangerously close to his face. "NOOOO!" _'No! No don't! Please! God no!'_ I beg and hope in my mind for her stop. A million things going through my head as I try to come up with every single means to stop her… all of which don't involve me.

I'm helpless to do anything.

"ARCEEEEE!" I yell at the top of my lungs, hoping by some miracle she's listening.

*Vrrooooomm!*

As if my hopes have been answered, a shine of light comes in from the side and illuminates Arachnid. Her focus is switched to the light and before she can react, Arcee like an angel from above ramps off a nearby dirt hill and transforms mid-flight before she kicks the 'con right in the face. Arachnid goes flying away from us as she takes the hit to the face. Arcee rushes past us and presses the attack on her. A smile beams from my face as I watch her launch punch after punch against the 'con. After blocking a couple punches, she does a few jabs and when Arachnid is stunned, she twists around and kicks Arachnid directly in the chest, sending the 'con flying backwards several yards, tearing through and knocking down a bunch of trees in her path. Once the sound of tearing of trees and dirt dissipates, silence reigns over with only the sound of Arcee's tense breathing and my and Jack's sighs of reliefs.

She turns around and looks at us. "Jack. Mason." She moves to us quickly. "Are you okay?" She asks worriedly as she comes up to us before she pulls the webbing off of Jack.

"Yeah, of course. Survival kit." He says while pulling out said stuff. She smirks at that before coming over to me now.

"You alright?" She asks as she pulls the webbing off of me as well. I grunt as I hit the floor but it's a massive relief off of me to be free.

"Yeah… yeah I'm good. Tired mostly." I give her my best smile despite my beaten and fatigued form. She smiles in comfort knowing the both of us are okay, for the most part.

Before we can talk anymore, we hear the rapid grinding of dirt and metal. Looking down the path that she kicked Arachnid too, we see the 'con transforming herself into a drill and cutting into the ground. Arcee wastes no time in switching to her blasters modes and opens fire on the fleeing 'con. I grab my pistol too and we both open fire as we both fire on the 'con to try to stop her but she sinks into the earth.

"Airachnid!" Arcee angrily yells as our enemy flees. We run up to the hole and peer down to see her but she's already gone and the bottom of the tunnel already closed up behind her. We sigh in defeat at her getting away from us. "So much for closure." She sadly states as she switches her blasters back to her hands and I holster my pistol.

"Now Airachnid's stuck here on earth. I'm not sure that's such a good thing." Jack says.

"To be honest, even if she could I don't think she would have wanted to leave the planet. Maybe gone into orbit but I feel like she would not leave until she got what she wanted… a trophy." I grimly state. Heck if anything she might want to bide her time until she gets the right moment to take out Arcee. Those two seem to have grudge from the past.

"You not wrong." Arcee agrees with what I said before sighing and looking sadly at us. "I'm sorry you had to face my demons today." She apologizes. "You were pretty fearless there, you two."

Jack and I look sheepishly at the compliment. "Actually, I was pretty terrified. Mostly for you." He says to her.

"Same here, sort of. Worried to see you trapped, scared of me and Jack being chased by Arachnid… then nearly terrified out of my mind being her sole focus." I say what I was feeling.

"Well, you did shoot her." Jack reminds me of that part.

"To save you." I remind him of why.

"Thanks for that."

"Your welcome."

"Not to mention she wanted you as your pet."

"Ughhhhhh." I place my face in my hands as I am reminded of that little bit. "Don't remind me please."

Arcee sighs and shakes her head at the info and our conversation. "Ratchet, requesting ground bridge." She calls it in as another mosquito annoys Jack. This time though, he manages the slap the insect dead against his chest. "Need to get my partners far away from any oversized insects." She playfully comments, making us smile.

"Partner, huh?" Jack takes note of what she said.

"Junior partner." She clarifies. "I can still pull rank." We chuckle at that as the sun starts peaking over the horizon, signifying the new day.

As we wait for the ground bridge to appear, a gust of wind blows by us. "Arrrr!" I groan in pain as the wind agitates my arm, making me recoil and grab it on instinct.

"Mason, you okay?" Jack quickly moves over to me to check if I'm alright.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." I quickly say and angle my arm away from him so they don't worry.

"Mason." Although my acting isn't as great as I'd like as Arcee says my name crossly. I look up to see her staring down at me with stern look. Knowing that I can't really hide it, I sigh and turn my wounded arm towards them and show them. Arcee's optics widen at the burning line on my arm, her look turning to surprise, and Jack hisses in a sharp breath at the wound. Right now its still red and burns like hell but the line has almost blistered from what she did to me. I swear if I look closely it might sizzling. I grunt as another gust of the wind agitates it just as bit more. Both of them look at me as Arcee brings a hand to the side of her head. "Put a rush on the ground bridge."

* * *

"Aaaahhh! Damn!" I grunt quietly as Jack applies the medicine to my wound.

"Sorry." He apologizes before he going a bit gentler on the application.

"Mmm… its fine." I reply and relax myself I start to feel some relief from the medicine. After we came home, Ratchet immediately took a scanner to my burn and found it to be a pretty severe, and still burning, degree burn that if left untreated could permanently damage the nerves in my arm or burn all the way to my bone. We didn't have any medicine to specifically treat this so Jack went back to his house and talked to his mom about severe burns and how to treat them. Turns out his mom is some sort of doctor or nurse and whatever excuse or reason Jack gave, it was enough for her to tell him how to treat it. Miko picked up what we needed at a pharmacy real quickly and came back to treat me. So now I'm sitting on the gurney while he helps me.

The pain was flaring up every so often as I waited but now it's almost completely gone with a dull throb. Once Jack finishes, he steps back to allow Ratchet to scan me again. We hold our breaths as we wait for the results. While I can almost feel the light shine over my arm, I watch as Ratchets face keep calm and focused before he gains a smile. "Alright, that did it. Your clear of anymore damage and your arm should still retain full functionality once its healed."

"Still gonna leave a wicked scar though." Miko mentions, making me roll my eyes.

"I think I can live with that." While I'm not particularly happy with the idea of having a permanent scar on me because of Arachnid, I think I'll take that than losing any form of feeling in my arm.

"You shouldn't have to." I hear Arcee grumble. "I should have been more careful! I shouldn't have gotten distracted…! And because I did you—" She angrily says as she paces from side to side.

"Arcee." I call her name, making her stop and look at me. "It's fine. I was the one that attacked her and angered her. She got the drop on all of us. Don't worry, I'll be careful next time." I say as calmly and comfortingly as I can to her. My words help as she sighs and nods. I smile for putting her at ease if even just a little.

"There won't be a next time." I tense up at the commanding voice that is Optimus. We all look up to the leader as he stares at me with a cross look and folded arms.

' _Oh no… I really don't like where this is going.'_ I think at what he means by that. "W-what do you mean sir?" I ask hesitantly.

"I mean you are not to leave this base to accompany or participate in any mission that involves Autobot or Decepticon. Even on routine patrols."

"WHAT?!" I ask loudly and slightly angrily as I jump off the gurney.

"Oh no." Raf moans.

"Harsh." Miko comments.

"Sir, please, you can't do this I—"

"ENOUGH!" I flinch as his voice booms loudly in his commanding tone, instantly silencing each and everyone of us that was, is or might wanna talk. "For whatever reason, you may not place as much care in your safety as you should, but that doesn't mean I should feel the same." My mood begins to deflate as I listen to his words. "I will not allow you to undertake any sort of mission that could possibly end in your death."

' _N-no more? But… I can't just sit on the sidelines! I just…'_ "S-sir," I begin to say, my voice starting to crack almost. "You can't. I've been a big help to you so far. I've saved their lives and helped them on multiple occasions!" I gesture to my human friends and the rest of the Autobots. "You can't bench me and leave me here on the sidelines!" I almost yell at him.

"…" He doesn't say anything at first, adding even more to my anxiety that I won't be able to help on missions anymore. Slowly, he leans in to me when I'm right at the rails. "I WILL not let you die for our war." He stares firmly, without argument. And just like that, I feel like crap, even more so than the healing wound, that I can no longer take a more direct role to help. "Do I make myself clear?" He asks as he leans back up to his full height.

I stare at him in disbelief. My mind starts to go through several thoughts, most of them angry, as my face contorts to match the changing emotions. Anger. Confusion. Disbelief and so on. My hands begin to grip the railing tightly… until it stops. A thought enters my head, making my face adopt an emotionless neutral state. I take in a deep breath before standing straight and exhaling. "… I understand." I answer in a monotone voice.

* * *

"Thank you for your understanding." Optimus relaxes and nods. "I am sorry I have to do this and I hope you eventually see why I am doing this." He tries to put Mason at ease. It doesn't look like its working as well as he'd hope since his face doesn't change. "Rest assured, you can still help us out however you are able from here in the base, as well as whatever you can fabricate in your room." Mason doesn't react to as he turns around and climbs down the stairs silently before he makes his way deeper into the base.

"I'm going to my room." He simply states without turning back. Everyone watches as he turns the corner and leaves everyone in the main room, the atmosphere tense from the shutdown Optimus was forced to employ.

"Wow, he's really bummed out about this." Miko speaks up, getting some nods from the others at the emotionless state he was in.

"Give him time. He will find a way to cope and still help when he can." Optimus says and heads to the main doorway. "I am going out on patrol. With the addition of a new Decepticon on the planet, things just may be more complicated than before." He transforms and begins driving away.

"We'll hold down the fort here!" Jack calls out as their leader leaves the base. As soon as Optimus leaves, they all sigh. "Wow. I was not expecting that."

"No kidding." Bulkhead says.

" _Ditto."_ Bumblebee chimes in.

"He… can't really do that… can he?" Raf asks to no one in particular. Everyone rubs their arms or the back of their heads awkwardly. Being the leader of their team, Optimus kind of does have that authority.

"I'll admit," Ratchet begins to say, getting everyone's attention despite him still working on the main terminal. "Mason has done some impressive feats that either aided us or outright saved some of our lives."

"Yeah!" Bulkhead shouts, "Like the time he got the Scraplets attention and lured them out the base! Not to mention when he pushed you out of the way when that fake Wheeljack tried to take someone as a hostage." He gestures to Miko.

"He also saved us and took out that 'con when we were trapped on the 'con war ship." Miko reminds them of the first major mission they went through.

"Had Arachnid focus on him rather than me." Jack mentions what happened back in the forest.

"And back at the museum when he pushed the both of us out of the way from Soundwave!" Raf chimes in his own thoughts as well.

"Then later when he helped Bulkhead take the Harvester from Starscream." Ratchet finishes what he's doing on the computer before turning to the others and walking closer. "It may be damaged, but it's not nearly as worse as what may have happened if Starscream continued to use it on Bulkhead." Ratchet grimly states at the reminder.

"Agreed." The former wrecker grumbles at the memory of how close that mission was.

"But the majority of all those things came with the high risk of him either getting hurt, or possibly losing his own life." Ratchet adds.

"He got lucky with Arachnid. She tends to play with her prey before finishing them off." Arcee says with a bit of tension in her voice on how close things were back at the forest. "That's why Optimus doesn't want him to go out anymore. He's put himself in too many spots to get himself attacked and theirs no way Optimus will let someone as young as him intentionally put himself in danger." She finishes explaining. After seeing how disappointed Mason was in having been confined to the base and not be able to help like how we was before on missions, they begin to feel bad and can only imagine what he's feeling right now in his room.

"Arcee! Ratchet!" Everyone jumps a little at the loud voice before turning to the source. Mason stands at the entrance arch to deeper into the base. "I need to talk to you two. In my room please." He states and heads back without waiting for anyone asking why.

Everyone looks confused at his sudden appearance but the two he called simply look at each other and shrug before walking to his room. They walk in relative silence as they go down the long hallway to where Mason's room and workshop is housed. As they get closer though, they begin to hear some machinery and sizzling noises emanate from inside, making the two a little confused. Arcee knocks on the door. "Come in." They get the confirmation to go in and open the door.

"Alright Mason, what did you… need…?" She begins to ask but it trails off as both Autobots stare at the movement before them. The conveyor belts and assembly lines are in full automation as the arms and lasers begin working and cutting small pieces of something that they can't tell what. Mason for his part is at the forge part of his workshop and fire and melted metal can be seen worked on by the person himself. "Mason!"

He finishes pouring the melted metal into molds before taking off his fire-retardant gear and going over to another machine to start cutting the bars of tungsten pieces into somethings much smaller. "You know parents didn't really care for other people." Mason angrily states as he starts cutting, bits of tungsten metal beginning to chip off into a bin he placed so he can try to remold the pieces later. "They only cared for us and making money, That's it. Making money and influence!" He begins to grit his teeth as his emotions start to become more apparent as the first piece of what he personally is making begins to take shape. "I was getting tired of it! Tired of just watching and having everything handed to me! That's why I left so I can do things on my own and by my own hands!" His voice begins to rise as the bots slowly make their way closer to see what he's making. "All of this…" He stops for a second and gestures to all around him with a spin before clenching his hands tightly in front of him as he stares at his friends. "This has been the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life! I can't stop now!" He states firmly as he gets back on the machine and finishes cutting the small piece out.

Once it's finished, he grabs it in his hand and walks in front of the others. "I respect Optimus, I do. His conviction and willingness to save my species is one of the things I'm grateful for but I can't just stay here while you all go out there to fight for both your kind and mine!" He yells, his voice filled with conviction that they've never heard of before. "If Optimus is worried for my safety, fine." He slams the piece in his hand on the table next to him and leaving it there. "That's why I need the help of the both of you to help me make and bring the plans I have to life. So I can be better prepared and way more effective in combat than I ever was so Optimus doesn't have to worry. So THIS doesn't have to happen again!" He talks as he walks up a rollable staircase, putting him at eye level with Arcee in front of the two of them and says the last part about the healing wound on his arm. This time though, once he's finished speaking, his face and eyes turn to one of hope and almost begging. "Please, help me… help you in defending my species."

To say the two are stunned would be an understatement. They can almost see the pleading and hopeful look in his eyes as he stares at them. Before they give him an answer, they look down at the table and lay their eyes on what's on it.

The tungsten formed non-casing added 9mm bullet and the fully disassembled MECH rifle, the railgun system clear as day to see, and examine.

* * *

 **Wow, this was a lot longer than I first thought it was going to be. I honestly didn't think I was going to make it as long as it is. I thought I was going to be around 7k words but not freaking over 11k. I'm impressed with myself. In any case with the overall content, I like what I did and I hope you all are on board with what I wrote as well. Some ideas I had set up before I started writing but others kind of popped up while I was writing. As it stands Mason is starting to get the scars for his fights with the 'cons and now Optimus is trying to prevent him from getting anymore.**

 **Well that's not going to stop him now is it.**

 **Review replies now:**

 **serius:** Very nice to hear that. Astonishing seems like a good word to use, yes. Yeah Soundwave seemed pretty pissed after getting shot so its understandable he'd want a little payback. Just look at Arcee. Okay that may not be an accurate example but seeing as she's a Autobot, her payback may not be as… harsh. At this point, I am sure some of you think I should take a break considering how quickly I've been working and getting these chapters, but I don't want to. In fact just to clarify I don't spend like five hours a day writing, I usually spend like half an hour to three writing in one continuous flow. You'd be surprised how much I can get done. Thank you for your consideration, and review.

 **Blaze1992:** Depends on the situation I guess. They surely weren't expecting 'cons to show up and attack them. The only possible opposition they were going to find was security guards and after Mason's efforts to shoot human soldiers during the train convoy, it shows he can and is willing to take more lives to save his friends and planet. But yeah that whole situation went FUBAR. As for the grounding, well that'll play into his plans but seriously, you try saying no to a several meter tall sentient robot. He may not hurt humans, but damn can be intimidating at times.

 **Alpha:** In due time. He has to get his equipment and gear set up so he can make proper use of it all. Also if your asking if you spelled Decepticon right, I'd say yes you did.

 **Fluffy guy:** M.A.C.? Are you talking about something like the M.A.C. cannons from Halo? Because if you are… you are probably not wrong. Of course he's not going to make something as big as the ones in Halo, but the idea is awesome for smaller scale stuff.

 **Cf96:** Thank you.

 **mangafox1221:** Awesome to hear that. Thanks for reviewing and taking the time to give my story a chance. Without a proofreader I always feel like I keep leaving mistakes here and there but its nice to see that if they are there, they aren't all that apparent or easily noticeable. I have had some thought of adding my stuff to other sites but never really gave it a lot of other consideration. I'll keep a pin on this wattpad and see how it is. Also I'm pretty sure this site also has an app function too. Don't really use it myself but it's a cool thought.

 **Thank you all for the reviews no matter how big or small. This does seem like a good point as any to take a break and get to work on my other stories, but I'm not. In a few chapters the fruits of what they'll be making will come to fruition and that's the point I want to stop on. Give you all just an idea of what this human is going to use in order to take down their Decepticon enemies. Excited for that part.**

 **Thank you all for your support, fave, follow, review if you want, have a great day and as always, have fun reading.**


	14. 13 Sick Mind

It's been over a week since I was barred from going on patrols or missions and my mood hasn't changed in the least bit. I am still very very angry at Optimus for shutting me down but what I want is to make something that can prove to him I can take on these dangerous missions without fear of being killed so easily or I can do some major damage quickly.

Fortunately, my plans and schematics allow for both.

With Arcee and Ratchet's help I've been working almost non-stop on my new equipment so I can get it working. Thanks to MECH's railgun system, its safe to say that any new projectile weapons I can develop will deal a massive amount of damage despite whatever size they might be, combined with the tungsten material I had most of my projectiles can be very powerful. Despite that though, there is one other type of material that I didn't have in my possession that I very much want in order to make some powerful and strong gear. I remember the conversation I had with Fowler.

* * *

" _Wait wait wait… what do you want? I'm pretty sure I heard you wrong."_

 _I chuckle at his expression before looking back at his picture on the screen in my room. "No, I think you heard me right. Depleted uranium." Depleted uranium is a very strong substance that has been used by the military for multiple reasons, ranging both from projectiles like tank shells to their giant armor plating. That's the main reason but it can be used for other reasons as well._

" _Uh-huh…" He looks at me skeptically like I'm joking when in reality, I am not. "And why on Earth would I ever requisition depleted uranium and send it to you?"_

" _C'mon man," I ask in sincere voice as I lean forward, "Optimus benched me from going on anymore missions or patrols and if I'm going to be stuck here, then I'm going to work on whatever I can to make sure that the Autobots get an advantage against the 'cons. I'm sure your superiors know about their existence so just say one of them requested the stuff. C'mon help a fellow human out." I ask as nicely as I can in hopes of him agreeing._

" _Well if you ask me I'd say it's a good idea you get benched!" It does not go well. "A kid like you has no place in going on dangerous missions where you can easily get squished by 'cons. As for your request, denied." My hand clenches on my lap as I quickly think up of ways to possibly get him to change his mind. "Sorry but I got more important things to do." His hand moves to end the call._

" _How about a trade?" I ask. That gets him to stop as he looks at me questioningly. "In exchange for access to whatever depleted uranium materials I request of, including tungsten and miscellaneous spare parts, I'll give you something that I'm sure you'd very much like."_

 _He gets a cheeky smile as his hand moves to end the video call. "Even with the 'bots help, I doubt you have something that would interest the U.S. government."_

" _Railguns."_

"…" _That gets him to stop and look back at me with a fake skeptical look. "What?"_

" _Railgun… technology." I clarify, making his eyes widen before I lean forward and smile. "Remember MECH? That mysterious organization that tried to grab the D.N.G.S.? Well, I grabbed one of their weapons and it turns out they were able to get perfect the use of railguns. You know, powderless high velocity projectiles that can go farther and hit harder than before. You give me what I want, and I'm sure the military can benefit from this sudden discovery." I say with my own coy smile. I was kind of hoping I wasn't going to reveal this just yet to the government but right now if I want to make what I want, I need some of the best. Not going to half-ass this._

 _Fowler on his end gets a bit intrigued at the idea of what I have from what I can tell from the look he's giving me. Very slowly he brings his arm back and locks them both together in front of him. "… How much you need?"_

 _I smile at his change of heart._

* * *

Now the only other obstacle I have because of this is keeping it under wraps from Optimus. If he finds out about what I have planned then he'll shut it down before I can show him the fully completed project. Not to mention he would severely hamper any other projects I would have in mind and regulate what I can or can't do. He'd also no doubt get angry at Arcee and Ratchet for helping me with this despite him having ordered me and all, ergo, no help from the others and such.

Still, I've been making great progress and its only just a matter of days till I have it fully finished and ready to test out. That being said though, the peace we were having over time just had to come to and end, with grim and disastrous results.

"Cybonic plague." Ratchet grimly states what's affecting Optimus. "It's only contagious if contact is made with the infected energon." Apparently, earlier we got a couple things from our recent set of frequency scans that may have bore fruit that we would have thoroughly enjoyed but the opportunity has been spoiled. For one, the Decepticon Warship the Nemesis recently met with some sort electromagnetic short that left the ship exposed and allowed us to find it finally. The second thing that took priority though was an old Autobot distress beacon that was found and hopefully would mean dormant survivors. It's there that things took a turn for the worst as the ship was a shriveled husk of ship that was hit with a deadly plague virus that killed all its passengers.

And now our leader, Optimus himself has been infected. "What was a plague doing in an Autobot spaceship?" Miko asks the question of the day as we are all gathered around our ailing leader.

"Its passengers were infected." Arcee explains. "The virus wiped out millions on Cybertron during the great war."

"Cybonic plague was engineered in the Decepticons' biological-warfare program… by Megatron himself."

"Why am I not surprised?" I ask myself. From all the stories I've heard about that guy, I really am not surprised that he made a virus that could kill millions. Doesn't matter if its Autobots, civilians or probably his own men too.

"You…have a cure, don't you?" Raf asks, although considering how sad and tense everyone is, the answer may not be a good one.

"Uhhh… No cure." We look as Optimus answers his question, much to our dismay.

"Optimus, please, save your strength." Ratchet pleads to our leader.

"He doesn't have long… does he?" I ask to Arcee who nods grimly. I groan at how close Optimus is to dying. _'I know he's ordered me to stay at the base, much to my negativity of it, but theirs no way in hell I want to see him die. Never.'_ My thoughts though don't continue as Jack asks a very good question.

"Would Megatron create a disease without having a cure? I mean, what if he caught it by accident?" Surely, the creator of the virus would have some knowledge of a cure for his creation. It'd be kind of stupid to make something so deadly and spreadable without a fallback to save yourself. The chance of infecting himself was too great to chance it.

"It's not like we can ask Megatron, Jack. He's pushing up lug nuts." And there's the downside as Bulkhead puts it. Megatron was kind of in the middle of ground zero when the space bridge was destroyed so that chances of him being dead are up there.

"But we might be able to access the Decepticon database. For the moment, we still have a fix on their warship's location." Ratchet proposes an alternate means via Megatrons warship. The best place we got that might have the information would be there, and right now its seen clear as day by us.

"Bumblebee, come with." Without hesitation, Arcee already volunteered the both of them to storm the ship. In hindsight, I would offer to go since I'm smaller and I can be harder to spot but there are two reasons that are keeping me from going. 1) While Optimus would not be able to stop me from going, it would be an incredibly dick move for me to disobey him right in front of him… and in his sickened state no doubt. 2) I don't have my weapons. My rifle and my shotgun were kind of lost back in the forest with Arachnid so I nor the others would like to go searching for them through the entire forest area. Kind of don't like to go under-armed into enemy territory. I'll do that when I finish my projects.

"Arcee… quickly." Ratchet tells her once he sees our leaders deteriorating health again. She nods and she and Bumblebee head for the ground bridge and Ratchet gets ready to send them.

"I'll head back to my computer. It connects directly to this one here so it might be beneficial to have two people in their system." I say as I begin walking. With my computer fully up and running, and the fact that we have some access to the Nemesis, should things get rough I might be able to help out with a bit of cyberwarfare.

"Good idea. We can't afford to waste any opportunities." He's on board with the idea and I quickly start making my way back to my room.

"Good luck!" I hear Miko call out. Whether it was to me or the forward scouting team, I don't know but I'm alright with it nonetheless. My feet stomp as I sprint as fast as I can to my room until I finally make it. Moving through the door, I don't bother closing it as I head to my computer and land myself in my seat. I pull myself closer to my console and begin booting up the computer. My workshops arms and systems are still working behind me on the commands and schematics I had preset up for them so pulling up what's going on in the main room of the base won't affect anything. Just as I connect, I catch the last part of the conversation with the others.

"Did you use a redundant quantum algorithm?" I can now hear the conversations going on over the radio, including Ratchet's suggestion.

"Don't tell me how to research. You think you're the only one who cares about Optimus?" She asks him but soon 'bee starts talking frantically. "What is it?!" She harshly asks as it sounds like he wants to show her something.

"What is it? What's going on?" Ratchet asks. Whatever it is its got to be big if 'bee is bringing Arcee away from her search of the files.

Soon, I hear a gasp come from her before she gives us some information that we do not like to hear. "It's Megatron. "He's… Alive."

' _Megatron… whoa.'_ I can't help but think.

"That's not possible." Ratchet says in disbelief and I'm not surprised. I remember the explosion of the space bridge and no matter how strong he is, he couldn't have gotten out of that without a scratch.

"Well, I'm staring right at him. The good news is, Megatron isn't exactly staring back. He's critical, hooked up to life support." From Arcee's description, definitely sounds like the tyrant isn't in good condition. As I process the new info on his survival, a thought goes through my head as to how this just may play into our plans. "Time to finish this once and for all."

"Arcee! Hold it!" I quickly yell into the mic.

"Wait! Don't!" Ratchet is on point with me in stopping her from killing him outright.

"… Give me one good reason you two… fast." She demands as I hear the slight whir of her blaster ready to fire.

"Megatron may be Optimus' only hope for survival." Ratchet says.

"What are you talking about?" She asks.

"Don't you remember? Your looking at the creator of the plague virus right in front of you." I remind her of that bit of information concerning why we are doing this in the first place.

"Does he display brain-wave activity?" Ratchet asks. I cross my fingers in hopes that he's not brain-dead. We kind of need his mind for this plan to work, somehow.

"Spiking hard. His sick mind still at work." She informs us.

"Perfect. If a cure exists, Megatron may be the only one who knows it. You must enter his brain… And find it." Ratchet explains. I was expecting some way for us to try to get the information on the cure, but I wasn't exactly sure how. If anything, interrogating him may have been some way to go but this may be our only option considering the state Megatron is in.

"Enter Megatron's brain? Ratchet, are you out of your fragging mind?" Arcee angrily says to the medic.

"The Decepticon laboratory should contain all the equipment you need for a cortical psychic patch." He explains and surmises.

"No way. Have you ever even performed the procedure?" She tries to counter his proposition.

"No. But I have thoroughly studied the theoretical literature. Invented by Decepticons, outlawed by Autobots." He says but she's not entirely convinced about it.

"Can't we just haul Megatron through the ground bridge, buy us some time to figure this out?" She instead asks what we should do instead.

"Time is one thing that Optimus does not have! One of you must try this! I will not allow optimus to pass knowing that Megatron will outlive him!" Ratchet firmly and loudly states. Considering the rivalry between the two, yeah it would suck on all kinds of levels for our leader to die first than Megatron.

"Ratchet, I would lay down my life for optimus… Anytime, anywhere. But a mind/body split?" Just as she asks that, I hear 'bee say something. "You will?" And that proves he just volunteered to go in.

"Are you… sure, Bumblebee?" Raf asks worriedly.

"'Bee's the best scout there is." Bulkhead is completely confident in his comrades ability. At this point, we can't be picky.

"Let's give it a shot." I voice my approval as well.

With no other arguments, they get to work on setting everything up. Ratchet begins putting in the commands to get us to see what 'bee sees in the mind while they get the psychic patch ready. All I can do is watch and wait. After several minutes of work on the forward team's side, it seems everything is set up. "Ratchet, we're ready." Arcee says.

"Initiate cortical psychic patch." Ratchet gives them the go ahead and our screens fluctuate for a second before we get a video feed of a rather desolate place. "Communications downlink activated. This will allow us to see and hear everything Bumblebee does while within Megatron's subconscious mind."

"Nice. This'll help a lot." I say as 'bee starts moving through the place. For someone as twisted and messed up as Megatron, the dreary and depressing place that we see seems pretty appropriate for his mind.

"Whoa. Where's that?" Jack asks and Bumblebee speaks from the other end.

"'Bee says it looks like Kaon, the Decepticon capital back on Cybertron." Raf translates.

"Decepticon capital? Huh, I can actually see this being it." I comment.

"Ratch, Optimus' vitals." Bulkhead shifts our attention back to our leader.

"I know. Quickly, Bumblebee. I know you're in unknown territory, but you must figure out where information might be filed in Megatron's mind." Ratchet quickly reminds the scout of the urgency we have as of now, prompting him to go just a bit faster. As we continue to watch, 'bee eventually finds to his elation an Optimus in Megatron's mind. "Bumblebee, that is not Optimus… But a figment of Megatron's mind. It cannot see or hear you." He says as the scout comes right up to the figment. Optimus doesn't acknowledge 'bee as he's focused on something else.

"Ha ha haaa!" Suddenly we hear the demented laugh of Megatron. 'Bee looks up to see the Decepticon leader in his glory. "Optimus prime, your Autobot armies are defeated. Bow before your new master." He demands.

"Never, Megatron. One shall stand. One shall fall." Even in the mind, Optimus challenges the 'con leader as his hands transform into blades.

"So be it." Megatron replies and readies himself as his hands change into blades as well. The both of them charge each other but as Megatron passes, he slices Optimus, making the apparition disappear in a cloud of smoke.

"That never happened." Bulkhead states. Pretty obvious it never did considering Optimus is still here.

"It's not a memory. We're seeing Kaon as Megatron has re-created it in his darkest dreams." Ratchet explains.

"And that means whatever he desires, including making our leader a pushover." I can't help but comment. In our minds, we always have some form of desire for how things play out and Cybertronians are no different.

Soon another Optimus appears. "Megatron, your treachery ends here." He says. Megatron doesn't seem to have the patience as he simply shoots this Optimus instead. This time though 'bee isn't content to sit by and watch a version of his leader be destroyed so he runs out to try to stop Megatron but fails. The energy blast hits the clone, making it disappear but it's then that 'bee realizes he's in full view of our enemy.

"The Autobot scout." He snarls. "The punishment for trespassing in my domain is your destruction!" Megatron angrily states and brings his claw up. While it seems grim, the fact of where 'bee is means I know he's safe. That is proven true as when Megatron tries to strike him his hand passes right through. "How can this be?!" In his anger, he tries slice him up some more but fails.

"Megatron can't touch bee?" Raf asks confused while I only smile in satisfaction at the angry state Megatron is in and can't do a thing to our friend.

"Because he's not a creation of Megatron's mind, Bumblebee is immune to his physical attack." Ratchet clarifies.

Eventually Megatron stops trying to kill 'bee when he realizes it is futile and starts coming up with theories. "You're not wearing phase-displacement armor. Your eyes track my movements, so you're not a hologram. And I do not believe in spirits. So, tell me, scout, what are you?!" He angrily asks.

"Megatron." A new Optimus appears, this time with the rest of the Autobot team with him, including his own Bumblebee.

"Uh-oh. Special guest stars." Miko states.

"This is not good." Ratchet says tensely and I'm not surprised. 'Bee goes up to his version and tries to get its attention but nothing happens. Megatron for his part is pretty angry at seeing more and opens fire on them, destroying all the dream versions except the real 'bee.

"You are real. They were not. A cortical psychic patch. How unexpected." He finally figures out what's going on.

"We've stirred Megatron from his oblivion. He's becoming self-aware." Ratchet says.

"If this is my subconscious… What are you doing inside my head?!" Megatron angrily asks. This makes 'bee freeze up as no doubt being questioned and under the gaze of this warlord is pretty intimidating. While Megatron waits for an answer, us out here manage to hear a special conversation going on in the real world.

"Ratchet, are you hearing this?" Arcee calls in. While I am hacked in and can see the dreamscape, I'm not closely tied with the others communications but I somewhat heard about how Starscream and Knockout want to euthanize Megatron from his coma.

"If Megatron perishes, Bumblebee's mind will remain separated from his body… Forever." Ratchet gives us a bit of information that we can't let the 'cons go with.

"Great. Just what we need." I grumble at the added time limit we now have.

"The only way you could have entered my mind is via cortical psychic patch. But the question remains, what happened to me?!" Megatron asks but our scout is still stunned. Through 'bees eyes, Megatron manages to remember what happened to him and how he came to be where he is. "The space bridge explosion. And yet if… If you're in my head, I am not one with the allspark. So, tell me, scout, do I still function?" He asks, a little quieter this time.

"Bumblebee, we are out of time!" Ratchet warns him.

"Ya gotta hurry man. They're going to pull the plug soon!" I add as well. Knowing just how much time he has left, 'bee begins retelling the 'con leader what's what.

"Cybonic plague? Someone besides myself is… Is unwell?" A nod from 'bee and a few more moments does Megatron put the pieces together. "Optimus!" He lets out gleeful laugh at the news, making me growl in anger. "Such irony! But after ages of endless battle, the mighty Optimus Prime is felled by a simple virus from the distant past. And what makes you think I would save the life of my oldest enemy?" He asks.

"Megatron, your treachery is— Uah!" Another Optimus appears but Megatron simply shoots him with barely a glance. Seeing that, 'bee gets an idea as he starts telling Megatron something.

"And just what is it that I want most, scout?" He starts speaking some more to Megatron. "Did you not see? I do slay Optimus by my own hand, at will, whenever I desire." He boasts but 'bee has a counter to his words.

"He told Megatron if he lets the plague virus destroy the real Optimus, Megatron will never get the chance to do it himself." Raf translates to us what he's saying.

"Smart."

"Twisted." Jack and Miko comment.

"I love it." I comment as well with a smirk. _'Nice work Bumblebee. Nice one in playing to Megatrons ego a bit.'_

"After our deep history together, to not watch the spark ebb from optimus' eyes with my very own… Well played, scout." Just as Megatron says that with a sort of compliment in his tone, a cube filled with a flow of data appears on screen. "The chemical formula for the cure you seek… Not that I expect you to know how to read it." He insults Bumblebee but I don't hear anymore. Without wasting the moment, I press a button on my console. The screen flashes for me and everything stops. Tapping a few more commands in, I pull up the picture I just took of the data. I smile and key in Ratchet on my monitor. Now I am staring at everyone in the main room on a separate monitor.

"Ratchet! I've got the data! Pull them out!" I quickly say. I don't want them in that tyrants mind or in the ship anymore than is necessary.

"Roger!" Ratchet acknowledges it and calls Arcee. "Arcee, we have the formula! Disconnect Bumblebee now!" He quickly orders. Without anymore reason for me to be here, I send him the picture once I've refined the image, cleared it up and zoomed in before scooting myself away from my computer and take off running back to the main room. As soon as I make it to the main room, the forward scout team has made it back. I make my way to the upper floors and railings so I can be with Jack and the others.

"Did you get it?" I ask expectantly of the medic. We all look at him as he pulls up the picture and begins reading and examining it closely. Seconds pass as we wait for his answer before he turns back and looks at us, and smiles.

"Let's get to work."

* * *

"That's it. Steady." Ratchet eases our leader onto his feet after he was able make the cure. It may have been complicated to the rest of us but the instructions were clear enough for the medic to make it in under and hour. Seeing Optimus make a full recovery after so close to death, everyone claps and laughs in happiness at seeing our leader back in shape.

"Please. Reserve the hero's welcome for my physician… And my scout." Optimus decides to shift some of the attention to those two instead. _'All heart Optimus. You've always got heart.'_

"Don't forget Mason." Ratchet directs some of the attention on me now. "He was able to get the picture that contained the data to make the cure."

"Oh come on, Ratchet. You would have gotten the information too. I was just quicker on the draw." I never was one to take praise, especially since I barely did a whole lot here in this situation.

"Be that as it may, it was still appreciated."

"Really?" Optimus asks. "And I thought my recent actions would have dissuade you from helping."

"Hehehe," I chuckle a little at the assumption as I shake my head and smile at him. "Optimus sir, what you ordered me to do may have made me angry, it may have made me more than a little pissed off at you, but there is no way under any circumstances would I wish harm on you. I know your intentions were to help and protect me and I can't get mad at that. I may not like it… but that's no reason for me to wish harm on you sir. I can assure you of that." I firmly but sincerely say. I'm not lying when I say this. I do respect him for his decisions, and having to lead this team against nearly impossible odds, and I can understand his reasons for keeping me out of the fight. Still that doesn't mean I'm going to stop working on my projects because if I can do anything to help Optimus relieve some of the pressure off his fight, then I'm willing to go for it. Whether its upgrading my computer to do some massive cyberwarfare against the Decepticons in any situation, or coming up with some new designs to help me fight with them, it doesn't matter.

"I am glad to hear that. I was beginning to think you harbored ill feelings for me."

"Well, technically, I'm still annoyed, but rest assured sir I always got your back." I do what I can to ease him of any worry he might have of me hating his circuits. "But enough about us. The real credit all along goes to Bumblebee." I gesture to the yellow bot. "If it wasn't for him, none of us would be even close to getting the cure. Let's give it up to 'bee for taking the plunge into that psycho's mind!" I loudly and cheerfully say.

"That's right"

"Nice one!"

"What a team!"

"Yes!" Various bouts of praise and compliments come from everyone as we all praise the scout for his actions. He nods along, waves a little and gives us some bows in response.

Seeing as how the worst of the whole situation has passed, I decide to quietly slip away and go back to working on my stuff. I still fully plan to make what I want a reality and I'd prefer my automations in my workshop room to have a bit of supervision in what their making. Afterall one small mix-up and it could cost me my life in the middle of combat.

* * *

A couple hours pass as I aimlessly go about tweaking my design layouts on the computer. Already several pieces and plates have been made so it shouldn't be long till everything is ready to be put together and made excellent use of.

However there is one crucial piece that I don't have in my possession, nor the Autobots, that would make a pretty big difference in my ability to help the others.

I look at the time and sigh before moving myself away from my computer and begin the slow trek back to the main hub area of the base. _'It's… time I guess.'_ I proposed the idea of where I needed to get this particular item from to Arcee and Ratchet. Not surprising they were pretty shocked by the idea and Arcee even cursed me out. However after a day of thinking about it, they agreed, reluctantly. _'I have to make this count.'_ My thoughts aren't peaceful as I slowly walk and as if fate is agreeing with me I find Arcee and Ratchet the only ones there. "Hey." I get their attention. "Where is everyone?"

"Optimus and Bumblebee are resting in their charging stations after the mission, and Bulkhead took the kids out for some fresh air… or a concert… I don't know I wasn't listening." Ratchet numbingly tells me about everyone. _'So no one is here besides the ones that have agreed to help me… a good a time as an.'_ "Why?" He asks without looking back at me.

"I think… it's time." As I speak those words, they both stop whatever their doing and stare at me. My face remains passive and firm at what I'm asking of them. "The decision is still entirely up to you all. If you don't want me to, just say no and I can come up with something else." This is a sensitive and tense subject with them and I'm giving them one last option for me not to go through with it.

"No no… no. I'll help. You wouldn't be able to properly extract it without damaging it beyond repair." Ratchet is still on board as he grabs his kit of medical tools and primes the ground bridge.

I nod at that before looking over at Arcee who is looking away from me. "Arcee, are you alr—?"

"He's not using it." She bitterly says without looking at me. Once Ratchet leaves the controls to the bridge and steps in front of the entrance, she walks over and grabs the lever firmly. "You'd… make better use it… than he is right now." With that, she pulls the lever down and the green portal activates. "Just hurry before Optimus finds out." I stare at her for a few seconds before going over to the portal with Ratchet. I nod at him and he steps through. "Hey," Just before I go through, Arcee calls to me. I glance back to her and I see she's now looking at me. "Make him count, alright?"

I smile and give her a thumbs up before stepping through the portal.

* * *

I steady myself as I land on the other side. Once I'm ready, I find myself in a place that's completely destroyed with tons of rubble and rocks all over the place. "You know where we need to go?" I ask Ratchet as I stare all around us for any indication.

"I do." He answers as he holds a scanner in his hand. "Our destination… is over here." He answers and kneels with his hand extended. "C'mon."

I climb onto his hand and hold on as he takes me to where his scanner is leading us. From what I remember, this place was home to a massive energon deposit and when it exploded the massive explosion completely tore rocky cavern to rubble. Hopefully we won't have to sift too much through the rubble to find what I need. Wanting to get done with this sooner rather than later, Ratchet jogs and climbs over large piles of rocks, careful with the scanner in hand and me in the other. Thankfully we don't have to go too far, nor too deep. "Well, we're here." I sadly say as I look upon the scene.

"Yes, we are." He grimly and sadly says.

"You sure you wanna go through with it? We can go back…"

"We can't afford to be picky. I'm confident in the plans we made, and I'm confident you can carry them out."

"Thanks, Ratchet." I thank him as he steps up to the body and places me next to him. While Ratchet begins laying out his tools, I walk over to the head and stare into the lifeless eyes. "I'm sorry this happened to you Cliffjumper." I apologize to the red Autobot. Even when he's been turned into a zombie, beaten, charred and almost completely damaged beyond any hope of recovery, I can still make out the red paint job… and the horn on top of his head. "We got off on the wrong foot, but I would have been honored to have gotten to know you better." I place my hand on his head and angle my head down, along with closing my eyes. "Rest now, comrade. For even in death, even when your spark has been snuffed, let it be known that even now you're still helping us. Requiescat in pace."

I step back from the body and let out a long sigh. "Am I clear to proceed?" Ratchet asks.

I glance to him before looking back at Cliffjumper and examining him a little more closely. Because of his injuries, the damage to his body and the explosion, his body is completely devoid of energon, both regular and dark. So now we don't have to worry about him coming back to attack us. "You are. Let's do this." Ratchet nods and begins operating.

' _Please… let this work.'_

* * *

 **There isn't much to say about this chapter. Kept to it as much as I found necessary while throwing in my own OC's stuff here and there. Granted now it looks like Mason has gotten or going to get his hands on just what he needs to put the finishing touches on what he's making. Soon everyone, soon we all will get to see just what it is he's making, and when he's going to go back into combat… without Optimus's permission.**

 **Also remember everyone, classes have started back up for me and the classes I'll be taking will have me at least take a test every week along with some additional assignments. While I'll be on top of it all, expect possibly a slight decrease in progress from me across all my stories till this semester is over. If all goes well, I'll also be graduating at the end of this semester as well and be done with classes, then it's the matter of getting on the with rest of my life but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.**

 **In the meantime, here are the replies.**

 **serius:** Yeah, he's in deep hot water right now but he's got some plans to make himself useful again. Don't know how many more hints I'll drop about his family. That one was kind of a spur of the moment but I like it. Thanks and I'll do what I can to keep being awesome.

 **Blaze1992:** Probably wouldn't go that far but instead of getting in his face, Mason's going to go behind his back. Less yelling and more secret progress being made. I was happy with the fight and I was considering to do what your referencing, but I don't think he could have had the time, nor the stealth, or strength, to do what the Ewoks did to the walkers. And while that would be awesome as hell, one man can't lift the tree trunks to set up a trap for the Decepticons. But we'll see what the future holds after this experience for him, and maybe get proper debriefs on what each 'con is like.

 **grimlock987:** Master armor? No. Armor in general? Find out soon. Although I don't know what Master armor your talking about. I feel like your talking about something from DOOM.

 **JustinTheSpider:** Thanks. I'm glad you like it. Rest assured I do not nor will I ever wish to take anyone's idea from their stories and while I'm grateful for your words, I hope I don't coincidentally or accidentally take anyone's ideas. It's not like I can read every story involving the prime-universe on this site so I'll just have to becareful and hope what I come up with isn't already used.

 **Jarhead:** Yeah, it had to be her. And it's going to be tense between the two of them that's for sure.

 **Fluffy guy:** Thank you very much.

 **Mr Beaver Buttington:** Well keep hoping. My stories going to keep following canon for a long while and I don't really see myself diverging off majorly anytime soon. But who knows. I still make this up as I go along and maybe I'll come up with an idea that'll make things more interesting.

 **Thank you all for your support. Hopefully things will still progress alright during school. Fave, follow, review if you desire to, have a great day, hope the school year will be a calm and manageable one for you all, and as always have fun reading.**


	15. 14 Adding the Human Element

I can't say I'm proud of what we did, but if I can give the fallen Autobot some form of retribution from the afterlife then that's what I'll say to justify this as best I can. I feel bad for getting Ratchet and Arcee involved but its one thing going behind Optimus's back, it's another desecrating Cliffjumpers body without the others permission, especially Arcee's. With what I have, I intend to make him still useful even in death. I swear it.

Besides that, much of the work has been done and with just some tweaks, trial runs and such, I can be confident to go into full combat scenarios and prove to Optimus I am ready, willing and able to fight again, with much better results.

I absentmindedly scratch the scar Arachnid left. A thick straight line of scarred healed flesh is where the wound once was and from now on, if I'm not going to be wearing my jacket then it'll be quite noticeable to anyone that looks at me. "Follow the light. Good. Good." Right now, we all stand around and watch as Ratchet gives Optimus a check-up to make sure everything is good with out leader. It's been a day since we cured him so now it looks like he's back in perfect condition. "I wouldn't advice anything strenuous, Optimus, but it appears that your systems have fully recovered from the Cybonic plague." He gives our leader the sparkling clean bill of health.

"Thanks to your medical expertise, old friend." Optimus compliments the medic.

"It was your scout who braved unknown territory to locate the cure." Ratchet reminds us of the important person who also helped getting the cure. Bumblebee tries to playdown his part but we really know it was mostly him after all.

"Lucky for us, Megatron was still alive." Arcee says, which of course gets the scouts attention. "Yeah, I actually said that."

" _Extremis Malis Extrema Remedia._ " I quote. They look at me for clarification. "Desperate times call for desperate measures… and getting the cure from our enemy seems pretty desperate for a desperate situation."

"Guess you're right." Arcee shrugs and mumbles.

"What matters is that you are on the mend, Optimus, while Megatron…" Ratchet doesn't finish the sentence as we already know the answer basically. 'Bee recounts a bit of what happened to the others still.

"He's right. Did my best to finish Megatron's story." Arcee says before she looks down. "Just couldn't stick around long enough to see how it ended." That would be something that should have been confirmed. We simply assumed Megatron had died at the space bridge explosion and he proved to be much hardier than we thought to have survived that blast. A simple wire pull most likely couldn't have ended him.

Unfortunately, we can only hope he is taken out since we can't go back and confirm. Their ship's systems were repaired after Bumblebee and Arcee came back. They're in the wind again.

* * *

Even though Optimus has been fully healed, no rest for the wicked as we all still need to get back to work on being one step ahead of the 'cons. I still continue to work on my stuff as much as I can in the mean time. Thankfully Arcee and Ratchet already provided the help I needed of them so I can work in silent peace while they go back to their normal duties. I'm glad they are though because for awhile I was getting worried that the others may question why they are hanging around me so much. Considering Arcee was designated as Jack's guardian he was curious as well when she hasn't been hanging out as much as him, or free for that matter. Still, what she provided to me was invaluable and Ratchet's expertise in engineering and medical knowledge of Cybertronian biology helped make everything come together.

Now, its all a matter of making it via my own hands and the upgraded assembly stations. _'So close… so close now.'_

"Bumblebee!" Ratchet calls the scout. This also knocks me out of my thoughts at the outburst, along with the crushing of metal. Deciding to take a break I'm lounging in the hub area until I was snapped out of my thoughts to see the medic angry at the scout. He in turn slowly turns around to see him. "I needed that! What has gotten into you?" Ratchet asks, which Bumblebee speaks as he somewhat gestures to the crushed metal cylinder device he absolutely destroyed. _'Note to self: Keep and eye on Bumblebee, along with Bulkhead, around my stuff.'_ "You're seeing Megatron's face?" Now that sparks a lot of attention on me and Ratchet from what Bumblebee states. After hearing that and not taking any chances, Ratchet decides instead to put 'bee under as a way to fix him from what's wrong with him. Raf is at the front worried at seeing his best friend shut down. "Bumblebee's complaining of intermittent visions… Waking nightmares, if you will." Ratchet explains as we all watch him work.

"But you said bee was fine when you checked him over." Raf says.

"Physically, but the experience he endured seems to be having a temporary effect on his psyche. This induced power-down should force Bumblebee's mind to rest and recover." After Ratchet explains what he's doing, he steps back but before more can be said the main console beeps, indicating we're being hailed. Everyone congregates over to it as we answer and what pops on screen is our favorite government agent.

"Prime! You spot any Decepticons wearing hula skirts lately?" My brow can only lift in confusion at the very bizarre question that Agent Fowler just asked of us.

"Did I just hear him right? Hula skirt wearing 'cons?" I ask quietly, in which Arcee and Bulkhead nod yes.

"No, special agent Fowler. Why?" Optimus is slightly confused as well as he asks for clarification from the agent.

"'Cause I was hoping you'd have a lead on the 'cons that busted into the kauai naval observatory. The place looked like it was hit by an army of wrecking balls." He informs us. _'Observatory… why?'_

"Why would 'cons break in to an observatory?" Arcee asks what I'm thinking out loud.

"Does the Hoit-Nikogosian ring any bells?" Fowler asks.

"The space telescope." Raf answers.

"As of last night, missing its primary lens." Fowler tells us what was stolen.

"It's difficult to guess Starscream's intent without knowing where the lens has been taken." Optimus says.

"Good thing the lens has a tracking device." Fowler gives us some info that'll make things so much easier on us. He sends the tracking signal to us so Ratchet can begin pinpointing it's location. Not long we find out just where it was taken.

"The Arctic? Great. Another chance to freeze our spark plugs off." Arcee grumbles, no doubt angry and still has bad memories of the last arctic exploration. _'Stupid scraplets.'_ It sucked on their side and the homefront.

Bulkhead lets out a long whistle as we zoom in on an energon deposit. "That's a nd-7 class. Biggest unminable energon deposit there is." Reason for that us because the deposit is under a lot of snow, ice and a massive glacier. Too much for either side to properly dig through without expending the resources that would leave them vulnerable to attack.

"Unminable until Starscream melts his way down to it." Optimus manages to figure out what's going on.

"With the help of the lens." Arcee too.

"A giant magnifying glass." I surmise and can't help but chuckle. "I'll give it to Starscream, he is crafty." I mutter. Instead of digging, it would be much easier to simply melt all of it with barely lifting a finger. Then it'll just leave the energon ripe for the picking.

"Melting a glacier that size would cause sea levels to rise and demolish coastal cities." And Fowler points out how destructive that would be on the human population. It would be a boon to the Cybertron warriors but would leave millions of human lives hurt, broken or lost entirely. Being the Autobot team we are, that is definitely something that we can't allow. Not if Optimus has a say in it.

* * *

Seeing as how we have a possible meltdown going on in the Arctic, Arcee, Bulkhead and Optimus took off to try to stop them from causing mass flooding on all coastal cities. Meanwhile, Jack and Miko are home while Raf, Ratchet and I stay at the base, with Raf and I keeping watch over the powered-down Bumblebee and Ratchet working as usual.

"So, I blow past the finish line. Then my other sister Pilar asked how I got so good at racing games. And I told her I know a guy who knows cars." Raf begins to recount to bot of what he's done in the past while I lay back on the second floor with a notepad in hand and doing some calculations. _'Can't have them fire too hard. These designs are still somewhat prototypes and I don't want them possibly tearing through the barrels, or overheating them. Maybe around 4,000?'_ I think as I chew on the end of my pencil.

"Rafael," Ratchet comes in and starts talking to Raf after he notices the kid is speaking to the unconscious bot, "I'm afraid Bumblebee can't hear you in power-down mode. It's getting late. Why don't I bridge you home to your family?"

"Because I told bee I'd stay. He's family, too." Raf states, making Ratchet scoff.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're not even the same species."

"That's being related. It's not the same thing. I'll show you." Raf pulls out his phone and shows Ratchet a picture, from my glance over, it's his family. "This is my family." There you go.

"Mm-hmm. It's very nice." I hear Ratchet mutter.

"Very large. Sometimes I can shout and no one hears me."

"Yes, yes, yes, yes." ' _Something tells me Ratchet isn't interested.'_

"But Bumblebee always listens. And I can understand him. I'm not sure why, but I do." Seeing as how Raf doesn't want to leave anytime soon, Ratchet has no choice but to relent to the kid's choice. He shakes his head though as he walks back to his station.

"Hey Ratchet." I call him. This makes him stop and turn to me.

"Yes, Mason? What is it?" He asks.

I get up from my spot on the ground before walking closer to him, once I'm sure I'm at a distance where Raf won't hear us. "Listen, I just wann say… thank you… for your help… and discretion with my project- Our project." I thank him and correct the last part. I wouldn't nearly have as much work done, nor as effective, if it wasn't for him and Arcee.

He glances at Raf for a second before turning away from the kid but still keeping conversation with me. "Yes, well, you have proven yourself quite capable even without our help at times. It stands to reason with a bit more, you can do A LOT more." He says in his own way of talking. "Just make sure you get it done right. If Optimus finds out too early or if it doesn't work, then I can't even tell you the amount of trouble we'll all be in!" He harshly, sternly but quietly warns me. We are taking a risk going behind Optimus's back but I'm confident it'll be worth it in the end. I nod at him, ending our hushed conversation. I look at Raf to see he's still retelling 'bee what's done or going to do so he didn't even bother listening to us. "Now where did I put the- Oh give me a- Scrap!" Ratchet angrily seethes at his station before turning back to us. "Mason, Rafael," He says to us. "I'm going to the supply vault to see if I can find parts to repair this." He holds the metal cylindrical device that 'bee crushed in his messed up state earlier. "You know what that means?"

"Don't touch anything." We both say at the same time. Ratchet really is picky with his equipment, and with good reason. They have been on the receiving end of some moments of confusion and anger. I go back to lying down while Raf continues talking. "Wait till you see this new laptop I'm saving up for, 'bee." Before I can continue thinking though, a hiss gets our attention as we look to the source. "'Bee?" Much to our confusion, the supposed shut down bot suddenly starts walking. "Bumblebee, wait!" Raf runs after the bot while I follow from the second floor. We go after him but we can only watch as he activates the ground bridge and goes in right after. "Bumblebee!" Raf calls one last time but its too late.

"What's gotten into him?" I ask out loud.

"What did you do?" Ratchet comes back and immediately accuses us.

"Not us!" I say.

"Bumblebee just got up and—"

"He was in power-down." Ratchet sees the craziness that sounds but once he sees the portal and the lack of Bumblebee, he sees its true. "Where does he think he's off to?" Ratchet asks, just as curious as the rest of us on what went over the scout.

"The controls should still have location logged in. Let's check." I offer.

"Good idea. Maybe if we learn where he went we can find out why." Ratchet is on board as he goes to the controls and me and Raf go up on the railing next to him. "These are the coordinates for the site of our previous battle with Megatron's undead." He tells us where he went.

"The undead?" I ask confused. I remember that engagement. I never partook in it but from the injuries Ratchet and Optimus sported when they came back, along with the reanimated claw machine that once was a tool of Ratchet's, this could be bad. "Great." I groan.

"M-maybe we should call Optimus." Raf proposes we do.

"Optimus is busy preventing a polar ice cap from melting. We need to handle this on our own." Ratchet says and turns the portal back. Before he can go through the bot that's got us pretty confused comes back through. "Bumblebee? What have you been doing?" Before 'bee can go very far, what he is holding gets our attention: a purple glowing crystal. "Dark Energon?" Ratchet breathes in stunned horror at the crystal as he stops 'bee in his tracks. Before he can ask anymore, he gets decked by the scout and sent flying back.

"Look out!" I push Raf away as the medic comes flying at the controls and railing where we are before slamming into them. The force of slamming into where we're standing throws me off balance and sends me rolling backwards on the ground. "Arh." I groan once I come to a stop and lay there, my body sore from the force of the impact.

"'Bee, what are you doing?" I vaguely hear Raf say. I'm aching a little but I watch as Bumblebee picks Raf up and sets him down further away without harm. "Bumblebee, please! I know you're in there! You have to fight whatever's making you do this!" All the while he tries to snap him out of it but fails. Soon enough 'bee turns on the bridge and leaves the base without a word, in both regular speech and his own. "Ratchet, Mason, are you okay?" He asks us from our groans.

"I'm good." I reply as I manage to get to my feet.

"I'm fine." Ratchet is good as well as he stands. "More importantly, is Bumblebee? I fear the time spent in Megatron's mindscape is causing him to think like a Decepticon." He theorizes.

"Decepticon? That's not good." I comment as I lightly limp to the railing. _'I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He was in the mind of the fearsome Decepticon leader afterall. Something was bound to mess up.'_

"'Bee's not a 'con." Raf outright states and we believe him.

"Agreed. But we need to find out exactly what Bumblebee intends to do with that shard." Ratchet says as he picks up Raf from his spot. "The only one who knew of the dark energon… Was Megatron." He makes a daunting assumption.

"Bumblebee has Megatron's memories?" Raf asks but it doesn't seem that simple.

"Worse. Megatron is occupying Bumblebee's mind." And there's what makes it complicated.

"Megatron, in his mind?"

"What?!" Raf is just as confused as myself.

"How could I have been such a fool? The cortical psychic patch acted a two-way conduit." Ratchet begins to berate and explain himself. "When Bumblebee returned to his own mind, Megatron followed. And now Bumblebee- Megatron… Has bridged to nearly the same coordinates Optimus used." He places Raf down and works on the controls. They may be a little damaged but they still work nonetheless. With the destination set, Ratchet activates the bridge yet again and moves to go into it. "Stay here." Ratchet instructs us.

"No! Bumblebee needs me." Raf declines the order, seeing as how his best friend and guardian is the one that's being inhabited by their sworn enemy, he doesn't want to be on the sideline. I can relate sort of.

"… Of course he does." Ratchet sighs but relents to letting him go. He comes over and picks Raf up before turning to me. "Mason, stay here and man the ground bridge controls. We may need a quick exit once we get Bumblebee to come to his senses." After my work in helping Ratchet fix the ground bridge after the scraplet attack, we were able to install a smaller set of controls for human use just in case he can't use the controls for whatever reason. Allowing I or the other humans on our team to work the bridge should things get hairy, plus the main controls are still somewhat damaged so the human set is the guaranteed ones that work for now.

"You got it." I agree with the order and nod to the both of them. Just before they go through, I call to him. "Hey Raf." He looks at me as I give him a smile. "Bring our friend back."

"Don't worry, we will." He replies as he smiles to me then Ratchet. With a nod, they both go through the portal without any problems. Once I know they're through, I shut down the portal and sigh.

"This is getting more and more complicated. I need it finished now!" I almost yell and make my way back to my room.

Before I get back to working on my stuff like the usual I've been doing almost non-stop for days, I connect my console back to the main computer so if anyone calls for help in requesting a ground bridge I can get over there in a heartbeat. Well, not a heartbeat because I'd still have to run. I'd use my motorcycle but because of my projects, its currently… indisposed.

* * *

Their objective is complete. With a massive push and excellent use of distraction tactics, Arcee and Bulkhead kept the attention of Breakdown, Knockout and Starscream so Optimus was able to destroy the lens heat laser and end the Decpeticon plan of melting the glacier over the unminable energon deposit. However that came with him injured and heated to very high levels from coming into direct contact with the beam. Now Optimus is laying in a crater unable to move. Starscream decides to not waste the opportunity in trying to kill the Autobot leader and flew in for a missile strike against the helpless legend. Unfortunately just before Starscream could finish the job, Megatron in his new healthy but incredibly angered state inadvertently stops Primes execution in favor of teaching his second-in-command a lesson he will never forget.

Optimus can only watch as Starscream is carried away by his sworn enemy. An enemy he was hoping to never see alive, no less flying. "Megatron. He's back." Optimus breathes in a mix of awe and despair at seeing his archrival alive and on his feet. Or in this case, flying.

While the Autobots quickly get their leader back on his feet, Starscream is helpless as Megatron takes him back to the ship and drops him on one of the wings of their ship. Once they both transform into their bot forms, Starscream can only watch and crawl in fear as his leader walks menacingly up to him. "Lord… Megatron. You… Are- You're healed! Praise the Allspark. It is a miracle!" Starscream does what he can to praise and grovel at his newly revived leader in hopes of staving off his ire.

"Oh, it will be a miracle all right, Starscream, if you survive what I have planned for you!" Megatron angrily states his plans. In a desperate attempt to flee, Starscream transforms into his jet form and guns it but Megatron is one step ahead. He grabs the cowards tail wings as they both struggle but the leader comes out on top. He twirls Starscream around a few times before launching him clear against another wing of the ship and transforming back.

While Starscream groans from getting slammed into the ship, Megatron lands nearby and walks up to the 'con on the ground. "But the Autobots… Optimus… Right there, waiting for you." In one last ditch effort, Starscream tries to shift his masters attention elsewhere but its futile. Megatrons sights are set firmly on the traitorous 'con in front of him.

"My greatest mistake? I've made a few. But there is one I do not intend to make again!" Megatron states, remembering what Starscream said just as he was about to attack Optimus. He then grabs the cowering 'con by the face and proceeds to drag him away.

Starscream can only yell and struggle as he's dragged to certain pain and anguish. "No, master! No-o-o-o-o!"

As Megatron drags him and his ship prepares to leave, he sends one last glance down to where the Autobots are gathering. He grits his teeth in anger at seeing the real enemy right before him. No illusions or dream-like pathetic versions he subconsciously conjured up in his coma state. His attention is moved elsewhere though as over a dozen vehicons come running up to him. "My lord." The lead one says and salutes before they all bow to their revived leader.

"Don't just stand there! I want you all to get down there and destroy those Autobots now!" He orders loudly and angrily. The vehicons all comply without hesitation and start going to the ground with the fliers already opening fire in their jet states. "Let's see if they can do a much better job than you could Starscream." Megatron snarls as he continues to drag the scared 'con away.

* * *

"Uh-oh." Bulkhead mutters as they watch over a dozen bots come streaming out of the Nemisis and headed straight for them.

"Not good." Arcee takes a step back as the fliers start moving in.

"Autobots, fall back!" Optimus orders and the three of them start running as fast as they can away from their pursuers. A flurry of blaster shots strafe the ground around them as they run but luckily they miss. "Ratchet! We need a ground bridge!" Optimus orders as one handed he fires a couple shots backwards at the fliers while the ground ones are just touching to the ground.

"Uhhh, that may be a problem Optimus!" Ratchet replies over the radio.

"What kind of problem?" Arcee angrily growls at the delay of their ground bridge.

Her answer comes in the form of several blaster shots streaking above them and taking down a couple fliers. The Autobots look ahead to see Bumblebee with his guns out and Ratchet holding Raf in his hand at the entrance of a chasm between two very large glaciers. "This way!" Ratchet quickly waves them over and they comply. Being out in the open is suicidal right now with the jets flying above and the ground vehicons starting to open fire. Several shots impact around them but they manage to make it through in time. "I'm glad you all made it."

"Yeahyeahyeah likewise." Bulkhead brushes him off as he lightly pants. "Question: What are you guys doing here?!" He loudly asks at seeing these three here of all places.

"It's a long story." Raf answers from his spot on Ratchets hand. He flinches and ducks as a flier streaks above the top of the chasm; the loud blare of its engine echoing off the walls. "Which I'd be happy to tell you all once we're back home."

" _Agreed."_ Bumblebee agrees with the sentiment as they pick up the pace a bit more. Thankfully the path is pretty thin so none of the flying 'cons can hit them from above. It's also too twisty thought for them to properly transform and speed away to safety.

"Well we need a ground bridge out of here! What are we supposed to walk back?!" Arcee annoyingly asks but Ratchet shakes his head.

"Not necessarily. Mason's still at the base. He should be on standby to get us out." He quickly explains before keying in his comms. "Mason, come in! We need a ground bridge at our coordinates!"

*KZZZZT… KZZZT…KZZZZZTT*

Static comes over the radio as they make their way through the winding chasm. "Mason!? Blast it! The glacier around us! It's interfering with our comms." Ratchet angrily explains as they continue to go without stop.

Arcee looks up a little as she notices the Decepticon warship slowly following high above. "I think that only adds to the problem." She comments.

"There's an opening up ahead! Call him again once we are out!" Optimus advises once they come upon a straightaway.

Ratchet nods as they put a bit more effort in running until they finally make it out of the chasm. This new open area they are in is pretty flat and open at first but further ahead they spot a few small glacier rocks they can quickly use for cover. A step up from the previous spot. As soon as they make it to the open, Ratchet tries again. "Mason!"

* * *

"Ratchet?!" I question the voice over the radio as my name is called out loudly and frantically. I completely stop what I'm doing before heading to my computer. "Did you get Bumblebee? What's going on?"

"Mason we need a- Aaarhhh!"

"Ratchet!" I call out his name after the sudden yell and cut off. "Ratchet can you hear me?!"

* * *

Before Ratchet can make his request, he is caught off guard as a flier comes in and strafes them again. This time though, one blaster shot hits particularly close to his legs, making a small explosion go off and sending the medic tumbling shortly into the air as well as Raf and out of his grip.

" _Raf!_ " Bumblebee stops in his tracks and throws himself through the air right at his best friend. Before either of them hit the ground, Bumblebee manages to grab the kid and rolls with Raf in his arms. " _I got you._ "

"Phew! Thanks 'bee." Raf thanks him and he nods back.

"Cover me!" Bulkhead shouts as he grabs the medic and pulls him behind one of small formations for cover with Bumblebee following. All the while Optimus and Arcee lay down as much fire as they can on the fliers to make them bank off from shooting at them. They back up into the cover as well before hunkering down.

"Ratchet, are you okay?" Optimus asks his friend worried. The medic waves off the worry as he manages to stand again.

"I'm fine. Just a scratch." He dusts himself off before crouching down against their cover. "Mason, we need a ground bridge now! We have Bumblebee and we're all together but we're under heavy fire! We need to extract now!" He quickly calls back over the radio with his request.

"Too late!" Arcee says loudly. What she says makes the bots look over and watch as the fliers reform to do another attack run while the rest of the vehicons come running out of the chasm, blasters-blazing as they pepper their cover and the sides as they spread out. Ever since seeing their leader come back from the dead and taking charge, the morale of the grunts has been boosted to new heights, determined to take out their Autobot enemy's in the name of Lord Megatron.

"Belay that request, Mason!" Optimus orders as one-handed he pops out of cover and shoots a few times but because of the suppression fire, he misses as do the others. "The enemy is too close for you to accurately bridge us home! Stand by!" He orders before returning fire. Even though Mason is able to call up a ground bridge for them, he doesn't have the skills to make a bridge right on the Autobot team, not without the enemy taking the chance to storm their base.

"What do we do?!" Raf asks from his spot on the ground, crouching and curled up as their cover is slowly whittled away from the constant onslaught. Time is something they don't have and their counter is decreasing at an alarming rate.

* * *

I stare in fear at the screen in front of me as I both hear them talk, requesting aid, telling each other to watch the sides and so on. All of it is accompanied by each of their faces on screen and the wavelength lines indicating who's talking. My eyes shift from each picture as everything seems bad. Very bad. The blips and locations of everyone on the map can be seen, along with the Decepticons as they are spread out and slowly making their way even closer to my hunkered down friends.

I don't have a lot of options. Either I put down the ground bridge and they make a break for it, that's if they aren't shot down from their cover, but also possibly bringing the Decepticon's too; or I don't and hope that they are able to take them so I can safely bring them back. One things for sure.

They need help.

My eyes glide over to my side, and I sigh. _'I was hoping to get some testing in… but I guess this is going to be the test.'_ I key in my voice. "Ratchet… hang tight. Backups coming."

* * *

"What?!" Ratchet asks incredulously. "What are you talking about?! No! No Mason! You can't use it now!" The others pause in their firing to listen to the frantic medics voice and what he's talking about. "We haven't done tests or even got it to work! You can't use it now!... Mason! Scrap!" He yells in frustration at not being heard.

"Ratchet," He looks over to Arcee, "He's not doing what I think he's doing, right?"

"He is." He says frustrated.

"Scrap." She silently groans and shakes her head. "Okay, things might get more complicated." She quickly pops out and fires some more before taking cover again.

"Complicated?! How?!" Bulkhead loudly asks.

" _How can things get even more complicated than what we're in right now?!_ " Bumblebee asks as well.

"Arcee, Ratchet," Both Autobots look at Optimus as he says their names, a firm expression on his face. "What's going on?"

"Uhhhhh, we may have… helped Mason make something." Ratchet uneasily says, then flinches as a blaster shot streaks by the side.

"And now the stubborn idiot is going to bring it into a live fire combat situation… untested!" She angrily states and fires some more.

"Seriously?!" Bulkhead asks surprised. "Look, I like the kid! He's got spunk and I owe him for saving my tailpipe back with 'scream and the harvester, but whatever you guys made… he can't take on all these 'cons by himself!" He proclaims loudly over the firefight.

Before anyone can say anything more, especially Optimus with how disappointed he is in his teammates disregard for his orders, but they hear the sound of a ground bridge portal opening up. They all look behind them to the portal that's opened up on their flank and far enough away that the enemy can't get in, but the Autobot team can't escape either. "Guess we're about to find out." Arcee mutters.

A motorcycle comes flying out of the portal, doing a wheelie in the air before it lands roughly on the ground and starts speeding along towards them with a small cloud of snow dust kicks up in the air behind me. The rider presses a button on his arm and the portal closes back up. The Autobots watch as he makes distance faster than what a human motorcycle is capable of, even on par with Arcee herself. The rider is wearing a thin but slightly bulky armored suit with loaders going into his arms, complete with a faceless visor helmet with metal wings on both sides of his head and pointed backwards. The cycle is thick and armored as well with two dozen barrels on the back acting as exhausts, even though no smoke escapes them. The rider and his ride are colored jet black with streaks of reflective blue to go along with it. A Decepticon flier streaks by and strafes the new arrival. He twists the handlebars to the side and he dodges the first line of blaster shots with relative ease. A second flier comes in and does the same while he's dodging. Normally, the shots would impact and hit him with devastating force. The rider however, flips a switch on his right handlebar.

All of a sudden, just before the second set of blaster shots can hit him, he is suddenly lifted a couple feet off the ground as small blue jet boosters give him the small height. The shots miss but it doesn't end there. While airborne the cycles wheels stop turning and curl in. The rest of the motorcycle begins to fold, curl, bend in on itself and the rider. The bulky parts of the cycle fold up onto the rider itself, mostly along his stomach and chest area, giving him an extra set of armor and effectively carrying his ride. The wheels can be seen side-by-side behind him and the barrels fold around both his arms. His moment in the air doesn't remain long after and his feet slam into the snow, kicking up small plumes of it before sliding for a second and finishing it off with a mad dash sprint. Driving had closed the distance between him and the Autobots soon enough and now with his added armored form, he is sprinting twice as fast as what any normal human is capable of, with long strides to go along with it.

"Ratchet! Lift!" He yells as he sprints towards them. Not wanting to argue, Ratchet nods and moves back slightly away from the cover and gets on my hands and knees pointed to the rider. "Arcee! I need an elevator!" She nods as well to the request before priming her blasters.

"Covering fire!" She yells and quickly peeks out of cover and fires several blaster shots at the enemy. The rest of the team fire as well and when the enemy crouch or wave off to avoid getting hit, that's when she gets into position. Arcee throws herself onto the ground upside behind Ratchet and curls her legs above her with her arms propping herself against the ground.

Just as he gets to the team, he runs up the medics back and jumps off at the end right onto Arcee. As soon as both their feet touch each other, he braces himself as Arcee pushes with all her might, launching the new arrival high into the air and far above cover. This act greatly confuses the 'cons as they watch the shape fly above them, momentarily stopping their onslaught to watch.

Big mistake.

He spins the in the air a couple times before he throws his arms to the side and his guns lock and load. On each of his forearms, 12 barrels each extend and ready themselves for combat, totaling 24 barrels of Gatling gun armaments already spinning as he begins to lose momentum from his height. He aims both his arms straight downwards at the dozen or so vehicons down below him, and fires.

*BRRRRRRRRRRRR*

A slew of 9mm sized caseless tungsten lined bullets fly out the barrels at over 5,000 rounds per minute (RPM) straight towards the 'cons. Small puffs of snow pop up from the ground all over the 'cons at first. Not even a second later, the first 'con is a casualty to the fire as the bullets pierce his armor and body all over. From outside view they look like small sparks but in fact they pierce through most sections of the body and begin tearing through the wiring and energon inside the body, while the arms and legs start to chip and break away from the main 'con. He's dead before he hits the ground and a few more of his friends fall the same way. Seeing him as a threat now, the 'cons open fire but his small size and descent in the air makes them miss, although it does leave him just a bit more of an easier target for the fliers that swoop in.

He shifts his faceless visor view away from the ground and spots the strafing fighters homing in on him. He curls himself around as they fire, making them miss as he launches a burst of bullets right at one of the fliers that moves too close to him. The fighter is defenseless as a few rounds tear through, injuring the 'con and sends him careening into the ground. The other flier breaks off, giving him the chance now to land. He lands on top of the rock the Autobots were using for cover with a loud crash, making spider-web cracks appear all around the rock. He quickly gets back into a standing position and brings both his arms forward and fires.

The Autobots look on as the figure opens fire from atop, not even bothering with cover as his arms stay parallel at first before they split in different directions and spray more of the spread out 'cons. Since they were in cover, the 'bots were pinned down with deadly intent by the 'cons, but now the new addition has routed the enemy.

"Woah." Bulkhead and Raf look on in awe.

"Indeed." Ratchet mutters as well. Several of the 'cons already fall to the ground as they are chewed apart by the flurry of bullets that seem almost nonstop in their constant barrage.

*Crink*

However all good things must come to some sort of end as his right gatling gun stops firing followed by a small wrenching sound of metal. His left set stops firing as he looks at his right arm more closely. A closer look reveals one of the bullets trying to be loaded but is angled wrong, therefore making the entire feed system jam up.

Before he can do anything to try to clear the jam, several blaster shots impact the rock he's on, making him and the Autobots recoil. He jumps up and does a small flip in the air before landing and covering his head with his right arm, seeing as the weapon is no longer useable right now, and opens fire with his still functioning left gatling gauntlet armament. The bullets fly out just as deadly as when he was firing both at the same time but not as many. He crouches as he moves forward while firing. The vehicons do the same as both sides move forward for better accuracy and continue trying to take each other out. Finally the Decepticon numbers dwindle to only two ground 'con's and two fliers.

Firing one last burst, he hits the last two ground units but doesn't kill them. The bullets impact against them but they don't do enough damage to disable or kill them. They fall to the ground in pain from the hits.

*Click*

Unfortunately, he can't finish them off as his left gauntlet runs empty. He looks at his empty weapon for a second before looking up to the sky. A flier comes in low and strafes at him to try to finish him off after the lapse in his fire. Without any guns to retaliate, he starts running away from the flier but towards the ice rock the others were using. The blaster shots land all around him and ultimately miss their target. As he gets to the rock, he runs up it to the top before doing a 180 and jumping off, right at the flier as it streaks past.

*SHING*

He lands in a low position on the ground as the flier spins out of control, going into a devastating aileron roll with smoke billowing off before crashing into a cliff far off. He stands up as he stares at the last two ground vehicons in front of him as they get up. They get into a silent standoff before the last flier moves in and transforms back into his bot form right next to his comrades on their left. Seeing his opponents, the rider smiles, although his faceplate hides it from them, and brings up his arms, showing both of his 2 and a half foot long blades protruding from under both his wrists. Adding to the deadliness, they drip just a little with energon. He brings his left hand up and gives a _'come hither'_ gesture. Taking up the challenge, both sides charge.

All three of the last of the 'cons run together, firing along as they charge at him. Their opponent sprints as fast as he can towards them, bending the top half of his body low to the ground with his arms poised and stretched to his sides. His efforts to make himself smaller go rewarded as they have trouble hitting him. He also swerves and jerks left and right to make it that much harder on the three 'cons. Both sides close the distance soon and before they know it, both of them are right on top of each other. The flier continues to fire at the rider while the other two ground ones get ready for melee combat. The rider straightens up as the barrage of blasters lets up and prepares to take them on. With quick thinking, he jukes to his left and runs up to a destroyed vehicon that was propped up but dead. He runs up the body before jumping off at the end to the sides of the vehicons. All the while the flier continues to open fire but he was so focused on nailing his target, he accidentally nails his comrade in the back of the head, friendly fire killing him.

With his opponents reduced by one with barely an effort on his part, he goes in for the kill. The rider slides as he hits the ground before launching himself forwards towards the 'cons into a roll. The ground vehicon tries to stab him with his claws but misses. The rider comes up from his roll and slices toward the leg. The blade cuts into the 'cons leg, going in halfway as it makes him crouch onto one knee. He twirls around and sends his left blade straight into the 'cons spark chamber, making him flinch before he sends his right blade into the 'cons head for added measure. The two-pronged attacks end the vehicon in an instant and his body goes slack. He doesn't revel in the kill however and quickly jumps back as the flier stabs right where he was standing. His feet slide along the ground from his throwback and he stops himself by stabbing the snowy floor. As soon as he comes to a stop, he looks up at the flier as they both get ready to fight.

While the rider may be smaller than the 'con in front of him, the armor he wears makes his strength strong enough for him to go on par with the 'con. They both hold their arms up, the rider with his blades ready to strike and the flier with his sharpened claws.

Before either of them can fight, they hear the stomping sounds of footsteps in the snow and both look to see the Autobots running up to them with their blasters ready to fire.

"NOOO!" The riders voice booms loudly, his voice amplified loudly and changed differently via the speakers in his helmet as he holds his hand up to the 'bots. They stop at the loud command and lower their weapons. His hand returns to getting ready to fight his opponent. "He's mine!" He loudly states and charges without hesitation. The flier readies himself and brings his left claw around to strike from the side. The rider brings his arms up to block the side attack and takes the full force of the hit, forcing him to grunt as he slides along the ground for a second before steeling himself and stopping. He knocks the arm off him before slicing at the arm. The flier recoils from the slice and can't fight back as the rider moves in and slices the back of his knee as he runs between his legs. Like the previous one, the flier goes onto one knee but he's not out yet. His other arm comes around and slams into the rider at full force, making the rider go flying through the air and flipping a couple times before sliding along the ground with his feet and blade stabbed into the ground. As soon as he stops, he stands, grunts in anger and sprints back into the fray. The flier tries to stand but his leg has all but stopped working from the slice. Instead, forced into his stationary spot he tries to slash at his opponent again. The rider sees the appendage coming and jumps up to avoid. Like an Olympic pole vaulter, he curls over the arm as it passes under him before he lands on the ground and finishes his enemy.

The rider moves close and slices the fliers other knee out, forcing him onto both his knees but it doesn't stop there. He does a veritable dance of death as he moves, slides and twirls around the vehicon, all the while he continues to slice the main body of the 'con at every opportunity. Because of his close proximity, the 'con has not leverage, or speed for that matter, to attack or kill him as he slowly gets cut down to size. With the flier covered in deep cuts all over his body, energon leaking out of her cut, the rider stop in front of him before jumping up and launching a powerful kick right into the 'cons chest. The strength of the riders suit, plus the incredibly weakened state of the 'con, he flops on his back and remains there. In one last effort, the 'con weakly tries to get up but isn't able to. The rider jumps up and lands on the 'cons chest with both his blades cross into a scissor fashion right up to his neck. In that instance, both combatants stare at each other's faces… before its done.

*SHIINNNNNG*

The sound of metal cutting through metal permeates the air as his blades slice outwards. The 'cons spark is extinguished at the same time as half his neck is opened up, the blades having not been able to cut clean all the way through but enough that his opponent will never get back up again.

At last, the battle is over with the victor standing tall atop the defeated corpse of his final opponent. His breathing comes steady but slightly ragged as he stands there with his back to the Autobots. Very slowly he turns around and walks off the body towards them. The Autobots are unable to hide their looks of surprise at the person in front of them as they meet him halfway. Its not long until they're a few feet from each other and its apparent the size difference is between them. Easily Arcee is the best example that could be used to compare heights. While his height is a few heads taller than what a normal human would be, he's only a couple heads lower than the femme bot so he comes to a height between what Arcee is and your average adult human. For awhile both sides don't say anything but Arcee and Ratchet have the slightest barely visible grins on their faces.

"Thank you… for your help." Optimus slowly thanks their ally.

"… Eh hehehehehe…" He laughs for a few good seconds before he retracts his blades and brings his arms up to his helmet. "Uhhhhhh and that's why…" He begins to say before with a twist, pressurized air is released from the suit as the helmet twists to the right before its pulled up and off. Ratchet, Arcee and Optimus are not surprised at the face they see but the rest widen their eyes and optics as they watch Mason pull off his helmet and hold it under his left arm. Sweat beads down his face and hair but that doesn't detract from the smile he wears. "… I don't like being on the sidelines." He states. Before he can begin to be scolded by Optimus or asked a million questions by the others, he brings up his left arm with his helmet in hand. "But for now…" He taps a few buttons on his arm gauntlet and to the others surprise, the ground bridge portal opens up right in the spot when it was opened up before when Mason joined the fray. As they turn back to him, he puts the helmet back on and it clocks shut. This time they can see his face through the front of the helmets ballistic glass faceplate. "Why don't we go home." As soon as he finishes that statement, his faceplate polarizes with a swipe, obscuring his identity from them.

* * *

The walk back to the portal was silent as we all trudged through the portal back to base. As soon as we got back, Arcee and Bulkhead went to go pick up Jack and Miko so everyone can be here as Ratchet does a final check up on Bumblebee in the hub area, and so I can start explaining. All the while as we watch Ratchet examine 'bee for anymore surprises and the others comeback, everyone else is silent as we wait. I stand on the second floor with Raf next to me and us just behind Optimus. The whole time our leader hadn't said a single word nor directly looked at me and it's making me that much worried on what his response is. Even Raf can feel the tension between us as he shifts his view between me and our leader.

Before long, the others arrive back to the base and Ratchet finishes his examination of the scout. Once he gives him a clean bill of health, an ACCURATE clean bill of health, we all give him our congratulations and happiness to see him well again. Once that's done though, all the attention and focus is brought back to me, and what I'm wearing. Raf and Bulkhead had to keep Miko from going off on asking me a million questions about what I'm wearing and not interrupt what Optimus and I are about to do. Once Optimus is sure his scout is alright, he turns to me with a neutral look. I then begin to take my helmet off again before clipping it to my hip so I don't have to hold it. "… Mason…" He says after a sigh.

"Optimus please." I quickly say so I can start speaking. "Just… hear me out… let me please give you my reasons." I almost beg of him under his authoritative gaze. Once I finish, he doesn't speak or do anything that gives off the idea that he wants to argue or says no. Taking it as my cue, I breathe in deeply before I begin. "Optmius… I'm sorry. I'm sorry I went behind your back and made this when you specifically said I'm not going to fight anymore. I—"

"We."

"Arcee—"

"No Mason. I'm not going to let you take all of the heat for this when Ratchet and I helped you make that suit in the first place." Arcee rebuts and cuts off my interruption of her.

"Indeed. Should you be punished, we shall share it." Ratchet adds as well. I stare at the both of them for a few seconds before sighing and looking back to our leader, as does he to me.

' _Thank you, you two. You have no idea how that makes me feel.'_ I think in gratitude for the both them in sticking by with me. A short breath and I continue, "Sir, I want to make it clear that I appreciate everything your doing to help humanity. The Decepticons are your enemies and you are a part of a war against them, not us. And yet despite that, I've seen you work time and time again to make sure you have zero human causalities in your fights. Hell, you even blew up the space bridge to keep Earth from becoming a cybertronian zombified wasteland! The space bridge which may very well have been the only means you have of getting back to your home planet, no matter how broken it is!" My voice begins to gain volume as my emotions begin to take over. "I've seen you make sacrifices for human safety and I cannot let you keep doing all this just by yourselves!" I yell as I gesture to all the Autobots. "It was you and Arcee that told me that the Decepticons threaten not only your kind but mine as well. That's why I wanted to make this suit!" I slam my fist into my chest, making an audible sound of metal slamming into metal to go along with it. "Cliffjumpers T-Cog is housed inside this suit I wear. Even in death I still wanted to give him some sort of means to help and I can with this armor. So I can fight on even terms with you all and prove I can keep up and fight just as well and effectively!"

*SHING*

I cross my arms over my chest and activate my blades, making them be revealed to everyone yet again, or for the first time for Jack and Miko, with the former sporting a look of surprise and the latter having stars in her eyes. My view however is entirely focused on the stone-like expression of our leader. "I'm ready to do my part Optimus Prime! This is MY planet! My species that's in danger and if your going to fight the enemy that threatens us, then I will too!" My arms go down to my sides, "With… or without your permission." My swords retract and I bring arms behind my back and straighten up. "With all due respect… sir."

"…" He continues to stare at me with an emotionless look once I've finished speaking. I don't move, twitch or breathe as I wait for what he has to say to me. My breathing is short, quiet and low as silence falls over among everyone in the room. Everyone begins to look back and forth between the two of us and while Optimus easily dwarfs my size, my stance and expression shows that I will not back down so easily. A bead of sweat goes down the side of my face and after what feels like forever, he sighs. "You… truly wish to fight alongside us… do you, Mason?"

I nod my head, "I do, sir. With all my heart."

"Then… I suppose, I have no choice in the matter." He begins to speak in a low tone, which makes me feel nervous on what it means for what he's going to say. That nervousness is banished as I see the smirk on his face. "We welcome your aid, Mason."

I can't keep the joy from spreading to my face at the accepting statement he utters to me. Along with the wide-smile I have, I straighten up and salute him. "Thank you, sir! I promise you I will not fail you!"

He returns the salute and we both relax. "Of that, I have no doubt."

As soon as he says that, cheers roar from everyone in the room as my body goes at ease. My human friends come up to me and begin congratulating me on my position on the team. The other Autobots come closer and offer their compliments as well on my return to fighting. "Man, you've got some big bearings to go behind Optimus's back like that. Consider yourself a wrecker to go along with all this." Bulkhead offers and I feel honored.

"Thank you, Bulkhead. I won't disappoint you."

"You better not." Miko comes into my field of view as she pats me on the shoulder. Although I don't move because of my strength and size and I'm pretty sure she hurt her hand from the slight wince she has but plays it off. My armor has an underlying exo suit that gives me unparrelled strength for a human and it's because of this that I'm able to carry this heavy gear with ease. "You're a wrecker now, one of us too so you better not make me look bad." She threatens with a finger point to my face.

I can only chuckle at her before nodding. "Don't worry, I won't. Give me time to get the bugs out and you'll be surprised what I can do." I say as I bring up my right arm.

"Well if your going to get into combat again, we definitely need to make sure you don't have anymore problems." Ratchet says and I wholeheartedly agree. It sucked that one of my guns jammed up on me in the middle of a fight but I'm glad I was able to make it all work in the end.

"Oh yeah. Theirs definitely some tweaks we can make." I mutter as I try to get a closer look at the jam.

" _This is awesome! It's going to be great having in the field with us!_ " Bumblebee expresses his excitement of the development. I'm happy to say that another feature we added to my helmets HUD systems works great as I can see his words clear as day on the bottom right.

"Likewise, Bumblebee." Once I say that, everyone gets confused but surprised expressions on their faces but none more so than 'bee.

He looks at the others for a second before turning back to me. " _You… can understand me?_ " He asks hesitantly. I nod before looking at Ratchet.

"I can safely say Ratchet, that the translation system for Bumblebee is a success. Now we don't have to worry about any possible miscommunications."

"That's fantastic to hear! I was a little worried about that system."

"That's awesome." Raf voices his happiness at finding out he's not the only human that can understand 'bee, who the Autobot is still slightly stunned at but giddy nonetheless.

"It most certainly is." I then look at the clock display on the top right of my HUD, with my armor and suit outline system status right under it. On the left is the ammo counter for my guns and their statues, as well as giving me the okay I can transform if I want to. "Well, if it's all the same to you all, I think I'm gonna head back to my room. After everything that's happened, I'm gonna crash out." I say and go closer to the railing before I vault over it. In the air between going off the railing and hitting the ground, I hit the switch and the usual transforming noises goes along with it. I hit the ground roughly seated on my motorcycle, ready to ride back to my room.

"Holy cow!" Miko exclaims loudly as she looks at me from over the railing.

"Whoa." Jack is amazed by the development as well.

I smirk at their expressions before looking at Arcee. "Thanks again Arcee for your help with this. It's because of you that I can pretty much take my bike anywhere now." She may not know the exact specifications of human motorcycles but I do, and she knows the ins and outs of her transformation. Combining that with my knowledge, its because of her that I can transform my improved motorcycle onto me so I can carry it.

"Well I'm glad to see it all worked. You did well back there against those 'cons. Really gave them what for." She compliments with a smile. I too smile back at her for her words. In truth, her words have more of an affect than most of the others because of her impression of me the first time. When I first shot her, I thought everything would go out the window and there would be no way in hell she would ever see me as friend.

I'm happy to see I was wrong. "Thank you, everyone." I begin to say to her before saying to everyone else in the room. I rev my engine and get ready to go. "I'll be seeing you all!" Without any other words, I peel out deeper into the base right to my room.

* * *

"That… is awesome." Miko quietly says as she watches Mason drive off.

"Yeah, that's… wow." Jack too is still in amazement.

"Optimus." The leader turns to see Arcee and Ratchet walking up to him. "Arcee and I are sorry we disobeyed your orders and helped Mason with his armor."

"He was pretty firm and focused on helping us and well, we kind of think you were a bit harsh on him."

After hearing members of his team express their opinion of how he handled Mason, he sighs. "As I see him now, I suppose I was. I didn't see that n my haste and focus to keep him from reckless harm, I didn't realize just how… devoted and skilled he was to fight alongside us." He says as he stares down the door the human in question left to. "For once, I am glad you disobeyed me, and helped out our friend." He says with a smile to the two of them.

They both relax at their leaders words, seeing as how they're not going to be punished because of what they did. It was a gamble to help Mason with his project, and it was a gamble that paid off immensely.

* * *

I ride into my room and come to a stop before turning off my ride. "Well, that was something." I mutter at how tense things were at first but now I'm glad it worked out. "Now, to remove you." I say to myself as I pat my armor before heading over to my armor station. What that is is basically a circular platform that has several mechanical arms that go about detaching and storing the pieces of my armor once I step onto it.

I step onto two pad in the middle of the platform and as soon as my feet lock in, the process begins. Mechanical arms retrofitted from the conveyors begin locking in and removing each piece from me. It's slow and I have to remain relatively still but eventually I am free and step down. If I want to get back in, I just step back into the feet and they process starts back up.

"Phew. Nice to breathe a little again." I comment to myself as I stretch a little. _'Note: tight a little in the chest and left leg actuator may be sticking. Look into that that.'_ After mentally making the note, I go ahead and prepare myself to get some sleep. The fight took a lot out of me but it was all well worth it. I'm in a good mood right now and at this point I don't know what could possibly make me lose it.

I am sorely wrong as I turn on the small tv I placed in my room. _"—Thank you. Now onto other news. It seems no further development has progressed as to the whereabouts of the Marrow family's only son. While the family's business ventures continue to make waves and show no signs of diminishing, the parents still refuse to give a statement as to where—_

The news anchor isn't able to finish as I shut the tv off with the remote. I continue to stare at the blank screen for almost half a minute until my arms falls to my side. "God damnit."

* * *

 **And there you go folks. The equipment and gear that'll give Mason the edge he needs to properly take on Decepticons and give the Autobots some much need backup in the future. He'll be getting more weapons and abilities in the future but for now, I think this is enough. Also, have any of you heard about the series "Robotech"? Because if you have, its where I got the inspiration for Mason's transformative armored suit. I played the game "Robotech: Invasion" a long time ago and I loved it so much. When I was brainstorming ideas on how to properly make something for Mason to use that will allow him to transform along with the Autobots, the cyclone cycle just clicked into my head and I found it to be a perfect fit for the story. I hope you all like it as well as I have. Next chapter I'll probably give more specific information as to how his armor operates, how its's made and such.**

 **However I also need to let you all know, the continuous train of chapters I've been doing lately for this story has come to an end so its going to be a while before I update again. Once I've gotten some more work done on my other stories will I return to doing regular updates for all of them. This was fun to do and I thank you all for your support.**

 **Here are the reviews everyone:**

 **Blaze1992:** Possibly. Haven't really fiddled with the idea but its something to think about. While it may seem odd to go with Cliffjumper, theirs the emotional attachment and meaning for using what he got from that particular Autobot. An ally that was unfairly cut down before he could meet the new members of team Prime.

 **grimlock987:** Huh, never heard of those armors before. Ether way, you'll know soon for what I have planned in terms of armor.

 **Jarhead: (Ch. 14)** Yes, next time. **(Ch. 1)** Oh yeah, she can be. Very angry and vindictive when the situation calls for it and being on her good side is always a plus.

 **seruis:** You'll know soon enough. Very soon, I think. Thanks.

 **roboman51:** Maybe. MECH did 'give' him a pretty powerful piece of equipment and soon enough he may be able to come up with new ideas to help him fight better.

 **Fluffy guy:** Thank you. I will.

 **Cf96:** Thanks.

 **I'll be seeing you all eventually. Until then go ahead and fave, follow, review, have a great day and as always everyone, have fun reading.**

 **I know I'll have to because of how much reading I have to do for some of my classes.**


	16. 15 Operation Breakdown

his has been an amazing development. Like seriously. The armor I have has been such a major improvement to my abilities to actually contribute to the team. I am still amazed at the work that was put into it and how it was able to hold its own against the 'cons. The caseless 9mm bullets are of course made of tungsten steel so they fire faster and hit harder than anything else I have at my disposal. Adding the railgun technology to the barrels only makes the small rounds even deadlier by so many levels.

The blades I have equipped are actually not human made but instead entirely Cybertronian. More specifically, their made from the spare materials used on Optimus's blades should his ever become broken or damaged. We were worried how he would take to us using that material but after he found out, he was supportive, much to our reliefs.

My armor though is something to behold: Depleted Uranium armor plating. The same means used in some of the most powerful armor pieces on the best tanks. It takes a lot to punch through that type of armor and having it added to my own armor makes me a force to be reckoned with, even against the Cybertronian warriors. What also makes it good to have is the fact that the other group we are dealing with, MECH, don't have that much means to properly penetrate my armor. I even tested and replicated what it would be like for their assault weapons to hit my armor and I'm happy to say it'd take a whole lot to go through. I know they have rockets and possibly other types of long range weapons that have more penetrating power than their assault rifles but the fact their most common weapon can't pen me is going to be such a leg up. As long as they don't actively hit the joints area of my suit, I should be fine as can be.

While all of this was fun, the last mission I and the rest of my human friends were a part of nearly ended us but I'm glad we were able to make it out of there. I'm talking about this alternate dimension/plain of existence whatever situation we ended up in when two Ground Bridges nearly overlapped each other. In the end though, not only were we unable to return on our means, but we were stuck there as ghosts to the real world with another zombified Decepticon that nearly made a meal of us. That situation was hectic but we were able to keep our wits about us and adapt.

* * *

" _Starscreams arm?" I mutter still confused as we look at the appendage. After being chased by the zombie 'con, we managed to find Starscreams arm in this place and thankfully, its solid so we can use the ordinance still attached. My gear and weapons are useless against this thing since it basically doesn't feel pain, like a normal zombie doesn't. We need this. We move it into position with some work by the others and easily enough with me._

" _Anyone know how to fire this thing? I don't see a trigger." Miko points out as she tries to search for some way to fire this thing but we got nothing._

" _Starscream did something with his fingers." Raf says but that doesn't seem like something we can rely on._

" _Hmmm." I mutter as I look at the back of the arm, the blown off part to be exact. "Let me try something." I propose and go to the back. As I begin fiddling with the back, the thunderous footsteps and grunts of our pursuer begins to close in on us._

" _Whatever your doing, hurry up!" Miko hurries me so I hurry._

" _I'm hurrying!" I reply frustrated until I find what I'm looking for. "Perfect." A bunch of wires spill out into the open for me to see. After quickly checking them out, I reach into the underside of the armor on my right wrist and tear off the plate, exposing more wires that I know connects to the fingers movement of my suit along with the controls to firing my gun. "Alright. C'mon c'mon." I begin stripping the wires and exposing the metal pieces before I get to work doing the same to Starscreams arm._

 _Loud thudding footsteps can be heard coming towards us even closer. "Please hurry." Raf pleads and after a moment of working, I smile as my HUD glitches for a second before it start working again._

" _I got it!" I announce to my friends. My HUD tells me that I don't have any systems readings to all of the lower right of my arm, gun and hand in all. That's not my concern right now as I practice moving my hand around. While the movement is limited on my own hand, the movement is mirrored by the severed giant appendage._

" _Okay, that's creepy." Miko comments at the arms movement._

" _So's that!" Raf points forward as he spots the undead Decepticon shambling towards us._

" _You have one shot. You need to make it count." Jack points out that particular fact._

" _Roger." I reply and carefully crouch next to the arm, making sure the wires have slack and won't accidentally rip out and disconnect me from it. The reticule comes onto my screen and I carefully aim the missile ordinance towards the shambling monster. Once I line both the reticule and the missile to the best of my ability's, I wait for the right opportunity to fire at it._

" _What are you waiting for?! Fire it already!" Miko complains but I shush her._

" _I can't. Too far away and the missile might curve off target. I have to make sure it gets close enough where I know I can't miss."_

" _But if it gets too close, then the explosion could hit us as well." Raf points out that fact as well._

" _I know. Now please, let me do this." They finally shut up and let me concentrate on my aim. The zombie shambles a little bit faster towards us once it spots us and while my friends are worried, I calm myself… and fire._

 _The missile blasts off from its spot on the arm and streaks towards the zombie before it connects with the monster well enough away from us from the explosion. "How do you like us now?!" Miko happily and loudly shouts at the smoke that comes out from the explosion. Unfortunately our relief is short lived as it roars at us again. We flinch at the ineffectiveness of our attack but it stops for some reason. The reason is it's arm falls off and while I'm happy to see it, when it twitches is when I start to feel worried. When it lands on its fingers and starts running to us is when I start freaking out._

" _Come on! Come on!"_

" _Move it!" Jack and I yell as I rip the wires off and run with the others while firing my last useable gattling gun at the pursuer._

" _How can the zombie arm move faster than the actual zombie?!" Miko asks out loud._

" _Because it has more legs now shut it and keep moving!"_

* * *

Thankfully, we were able to make it out of there without any other problems besides some close calls. They found out about Miko's text and we were ground bridged out of there. Even though we were almost killed and made into a meal for a zombie, it was an eye-opening experience. While my armor and built-in weapons are powerful, they aren't strong enough to go toe to toe with the more powerful of Decepticons than their grunts. This means I have to come up with new weapons and abilities in order to give me an edge again.

"But what?" I mutter, turning my thoughts into words.

"Hmm? What was that?"

"Oh, nothing Arcee. Just thinking out loud." I wave off the femme. Right now everyone, minus one, is hear in the main area watching the monitors as Bulkhead took off to some rural abandoned town to scout it out for some strange readings we've been getting. Not wanting to sit idly by, he went ahead and went himself while everyone else was off on patrol. I proposed to go with him and back him up but he wanted to do this solo. Even though everyone else is here waiting, I'm still in my armor on standby just in case. Bulkheads signal flashed for a second and right now Ratchet is trying to get the Autobot's comms back in working order so we can talk to him.

"Marco. Marco. Maarco!" Miko has opted for a… unique way to try to talk to the Autobot.

"Miko?" I sigh in relief when we hear the 'bot reply.

"You're supposed to say 'Polo'." Miko complains.

"Huh?" Bulkhead gasps as his blip moves slightly but overall seems alright. "Miko… Arhhh uhhh… let Ratchet know I need a ground bridge." He requests after groaning.

The medic wastes no time in opening the bridge and bringing our wrecker scout back to base. He limps as he walks back where Ratchet gets to work in fixing him up. It was during that time that Bulkhead told us why he's been battered and basically knocked unconscious.

"Engaging the enemy on your own was foolish, Bulkhead." Optimus scolds the wrecker. I'm not surprised, considering he went one-on-one against Breakdown.

"Breakdown jumped me. I knew I could take him. Ugh!" He groans at the welder Ratchet uses on him.

"Stay still." The medic advices.

"But we should see the other guy, right, Bulk?" Miko asks hopefully and confidently of her guardian's ability to fight.

"Uh… yeah. About that." Bulkhead uncomfortably replies.

Miko looks at him surprised. "You didn't torch him?" She asks.

"Not exactly. I-I figured you all did." He figures what happened but we shale our heads no.

"Oh." She replies a little saddened at the news.

"When I came to, Breakdown was just gone. I remember hearing a copter. Uh… Maybe it was agent Fowler." He proposes what might have happened but problem is we didn't have any news from Fowler doing anything. Usually whenever theirs anything that involves Autobot or Decpeticon, Fowler will come in, accuse Optimus, accuse the 'cons or do something to get our attention and—

"Not me." _'Oh, well there you go.'_ The agent in question comes out of the elevator and makes himself known to us. "But I have an idea who. Show me where this 'con-napping occurred." He requests. With a nod from Optimus, Ratchet begins pulling up a map of where Bulkhead just was.

* * *

Back on the Nemesis, the heart of the Decepticon army on their mission on earth, continues to patrol the skies while they wait for one of their own to return and give his report. Unfortunately, they will not see the Decepticons report anytime soon due to his capture. "Lord Megatron, I fear Breakdown has gone missing." Starscream comes up to the bridge and informs his leader of what happened.

"The Autobots?" Megatron surmises what happened with his back still to his second-in-command.

"According to surveillance provided by the astonishingly accurate Soundwave, Breakdown was abducted by humans." Starscream informs him exactly who it was that took the 'con.

"Your point?" Megatron asks.

"My strongest recommendation we assemble a rescue team to hunt the vermin responsible for this outrage!" Starscream angrily recommends they do forthwith.

"…Breakdown is on his own." Their leader menacingly states instead.

"Ahhh… Uhh… Master?" Starscream asks confused on the matter.

"If Breakdown allowed himself to be captured by those smaller than him, weaker than him, he deserves whatever fate awaits him." Megatron says.

"But Breakdown is a key player in our—" The side glare he gives him stops Starscream from speaking and rethinking what he needs to say. "Uh, your wisdom reigns supreme, lord Megatron." He begins to walk away from his leader and out of the bridge. "For now." He adds the last part under his breath. As he passes Soundwave though, he can't help but smirk as he stares at the 'cons repaired faceplate. "Even though their small, not all of them are weak, now are they Soundwave?" He says with a bit of playfulness in his voice. Soundwave for his part simply turns to the second in command and replays the footage on his face plate of the human killing the Vehicon on the ship, on his own. Starscreams playfulness is gone, replaced by worry, before he scoffs and walks off. The comms officer meanwhile returns to monitoring communication channels, as well as trying to recover the footage of the squad they lost awhile back.

* * *

While the only sound we can hear is the rapid taps and presses of Ratchets work, Fowler walks up to the rest of us humans. More specifically, me. "Soooo, this is what you were working on." My helmet is on and polarized so he doesn't see me roll my eyes as I turn to him While he doesn't see my face, I can see the smirk on his. "Nifty work."

"I do what I can." I reply casually. Even through the inches of armor plating and the exosuit underneath, I can almost feel his eyes on me as he appraises my armored war suit.

"Say, is there a chance you can do ol' Uncle Sam a favor and—"

"No." My answer is immediate and firm without any room for argument.

"N-no!?" He asks surprised.

"You heard me. No."

"Ohhhh! Shutdown." I smile at Miko's voice.

"Oh come on now! Don't you realize how much of a boost this suits technology and plans will be to the military?" He asks and I nod.

"I do…" I begin to say and take off my helmet. Once the pressure released and I lift it off, I give him a hard stare. "But this suit of mine is that: Mine. Built and maintained with my hands with some Cybertronian materials and help." I wave the last part to Arcee and Ratchet. The latter is busy on the computer but the former smiles and she nods. "But most of all what I don't want to do is have this thing be known to public, especially MECH." I hiss the name out.

"MECH? What do they have to do with this?" He asks confused.

"This is where we picked up Bulkhead." Before I can answer, Ratchet has found the coordinates. Our attention is shifted back to the matter at hand. Ratchet has pulled up a map of the entire world and highlights the location where Bulkhead was fighting.

"The Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia. Much of it was abandoned when its volcano first erupted. My intel reported MECH activity there earlier today." Fowler explains to us what he knows.

"MECH? You mean those techie guys?" Miko asks and we nod yes.

"The very ones who know of our existence on your planet." Ratchet dauntingly states. Not many people do know about the Autobots and Decepticons and unfortunately, MECH is one of them.

"They must have tracked one of us there." Bulkhead comments.

"But what would they want with Breakdown?" Miko asks and I can hazard a pretty good guess as to why they want him.

"What's it matter?" Some don't care either way, as said by Arcee. "They can have him."

"Hehe. Yeah. Dragged off by humans. Ha! Guess I softened him up for them, huh?" Bulkhead jokes to Miko but she doesn't seem interested.

"Mm, yeah." While Miko shrugs off the idea that Bulkhead got beaten by Breakdown, I still don't like that MECH captured the 'con in the first place. A glance to Optimus shows exactly what's needs to happen.

"Ratchet, reactivate the previous ground bridge coordinates. We will rescue Breakdown."

"What?!"

"Optimus, you can't be serious." Just as expected, many of those in our group are not too fond of the idea of rescuing one of our enemies, including Bumblebee as he whines in protest too. Unfortunately, my helmet is off so I wasn't able to understand what he said. Still he no doubt didn't like the idea too.

"MECH can melt him down for all I care. Let the 'cons rescue their own." Bulkhead voices his dislike of the 'con.

"It is unlikely that Megatron would bother with an errand of mercy." Optimus states and chances, are he's right. Megatron doesn't seem like the type to save his own men. Rather he'd just think they might weak unless they can save themselves.

"Okay. But this is Breakdown we're talking about." Arcee reminds us of the fact again but Optimus is not budging.

"We know that, Arcee. But we still have to save him." I voice my opinion on the matter as well. Obviously, this gets some surprised and confused looks by everyone.

"You too? Why?" Bulkhead asks, in which I look towards Optimus.

"Sometimes we must rise above ourselves for the greater good." Optimus, in all his leadership glory, states.

"Oh, what's that supposed to mean?! Breakdown's gonna be grateful and go all soft and join the cause?" Bulkhead is highly doubtful of something like that happening and he's not reserved at all in voicing his thought.

"While it is unlikely that any Decepticon will choose the path of good, even they possess the potential for change." Optimus says.

"I knew where this was headed!" Again, Bulkhead continues to voice his dislike of the idea.

"By 'greater good,' I meant humankind. MECH presents a clear and present danger." Optimus decides another approach that'll hopefully get in through his thick head. Instead of saving Breakdown out of the goodness of our hearts, we'll be saving him to deny an opportunity for MECH."

"Prime's right, two-ton." Fowler speaks. "We know MECH is obsessed with obtaining groundbreaking technology."

"You should know what their capable Bulkhead. You've faced their technology. This!" I hold up my right gatling gun arm in emphasis. "This was made FROM their technology that I was barely able to steal. If they can perfect Railgun technology on their own, there's no limit to what they might do if they get their hands on anything Cybertronian. And I don't know about you but I don't want a mysterious military human group stronger than any other human military in the world."

"Which means we cannot allow cybertronian biology to fall into their hands. Get ready everyone." While Optimus and the others get ready to go, I turn back to Fowler and put on my helmet.

"Most of all, I want to limit how much people know about this suit, as well as getting their hands on it." Saying my final piece on the matter of my armor, my faceplate polarizes and I go join the others.

* * *

"Come on, Bulk! You got to go with."

"Don't want to." Bulkhead continues to sulk, despite Miko's encouragements.

"Bulkhead." Optimus states the wreckers name.

"Optimus, I'm sorry. I just can't do it!"

"I support your choice."

"W-w-what?!" Both he and Miko mutter at the same time in surprise and utter confusion.

"Given your history with Breakdown, your judgment may be clouded and thus jeopardize the mission. Besides, the Decepticon may be more in need of a medic than another warrior." Optimus elaborates more on why Bulkhead shouldn't come.

"Locked and loaded, Optimus." Ratchet tells him.

"Mason will take your place."

"Ready sir." I call out as I move in close to them.

With everyone on the mission ready and waiting, it's time to move out. "Autobots, roll out!" At Optimus's words, we run in and transform as we pass through the ground bridge portal. It takes a little bit for us to properly pass through one end and make it out the other but we make it. As soon as we do, everyone transforms and readies theirs weapons, as do I. As expected, the place is completely abandoned and devoid of life as we scan the area, but with our eyes and optics, and Ratchet's device.

"No signs of life… Human or Cybertronian." Optimus states as we all relax just a little.

" _Look at this. I have tracks here._ " Bumblebee says and he's right, theirs some tire tracks on the ground going in a direction.

"Forget the tracks, Bumblebee. I'm picking up a faint Energon signal 3 slicks North by Noorthwest." Ratchet states and gestures in the opposite direction.

"Breakdown." Optimus mentions the 'cons name.

"But we shouldn't be getting a reading unless…" Arcee trails off, letting what she means hang in the air.

"His Energon's been spilled." Ratchet states what it means. Unless MECH was able to get their hands on energon themselves, that's the only other option and we've had no readings of underground deposits here in the area. Still, I'm not entirely confident in the reading as I stare at the tracks.

"Optimus. Request permission to follow those tracks." I ask of him as I point to the dirt.

"If I may ask, why?"

"We faced MECH before and to be honest, their crafty. Very crafty. Especially this Silas in charge. I think at least one of us should branch off just in case some of us gets into a trap." I explain my reasoning.

"And you wanna go alone?" Arcee asks skeptically. I gesture to myself.

"I'm small. I can be stealthier and seen a lot less than you all. No offense."

"Hmmmm, permission granted." I smile at Optimus's go ahead for me. I turn around and begin walking away. "Mason." I stop and look back at him. "Good luck."

"Back at you. Keep me posted and I'll do the same back." I reply before I start running as I follow the tracks. Normally I'd change into my bike but the engine would make me loud, as well as when I transform. A few minutes pass as I carefully maneuver my way around the town, sticking close to the buildings and shadows. I pass by several buildings and corners as I continue to follow the tracks. "Radioing in. Still following the tracks but so far nothing out of the ordinary."

"Roger, Mason. We are close to the Energon signal." Optimus informs me before Ratchet speaks.

"Reading's coming from right… Here." He finishes saying but from the way his voice became low from what he saw, it doesn't sound good. "Breakdown's eye."

I hear small gasps from the others, even from me as well. "His eye? You found his eye? Oh god."

"Mason?" I whirl around and aim both my guns at the voice. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa! Relax, its me!" As it turns out, Bulkhead decided to follow us.

"Bulkhead!? What the hell are you doing here!?" I quietly but angrily yell at the giant Autobot that freakin' surprised the hell out of me.

"I didn't want to be left out afterall so I ground bridged here. Was following these tracks here and then I saw you. I figured this was where everyone else was going." He explains.

I relax and stare annoyed at him. "No we didn't. The others got an Energon signal in the other direction so I volunteered to look for anything with these." I say as I point to the tracks.

Bulkhead looks like he's about to say something but his eye focus on something else behind me. "Looks like your hunch was correct." He says and points past me.

Turning around, I see a pair of headlights begin to come around a corner. "Quick! Hide!" I quietly yell to the bot and lean myself against the building we are next to, as does Bulkhead. Thankfully, the dim light of the moon casts a shadow on the side of the building we are on so despite his size, Bulkhead and I are hidden away as the green car used by MECH comes around the corner and goes down another road.

"MECH." Bulkhead mutters as we poke our heads out and spot the car drive off and head into a tunnel going into the mountains nearby. We carefully move in and make sure no one is around to see us as we ready our weapons as we move into the tunnel. Meanwhile I still maintain radio and connectivity to the others but shut off my outside speakers, as well as the microphone. That way I can see what their doing while also moving with Bulkhead and not giving off any noise besides our careful footsteps.

"What are you doing?" Arcee asks the medic as he fiddles with the eye and his device.

"The optic receptors might have retained the final images seen." Just as he finishes saying that, a feed pops up on my HUD in the corner, showing what Ratchets seeing on his device. Our suspicions are correct as we see a MECH engineer leering at us, more specifically, what Breakdown saw.

"What do you know? Weird science wins again." Arcee comments and just before the feed cuts off, the engineer presses a drill to the eye, cutting it off. I quietly shudder at the idea of having a drill go through my own eye.

That's not all though as a new feed comes up soon after. This time of Silas as he watches his men breakdown, well, Breakdown. "Well, well. Optimus Prime. A pleasure to set eyes on you again." He says with a leer. _'Sadistic bastard.'_

"He's converted the optics to a two-way feed." Ratchet quickly explains why it is Silas is able to see and talk to the others.

"And you must be Silas." Optimus replies. At least now we can properly put a face to the leader of MECH.

"In the flesh. But being that our captive is not one of yours, I have to admit I was expecting Megatron."

"In this circumstance, Autobots and Decepticons share a common foe."

"MECH is anything but common." Silas replies back both annoyed and angry at the insinuation that they are just another common problem we may deal with. "Our guest is yielding quite a bit of information about your biomechanics, as you can see…" He gestures to the 'con still being operated on behind him. I'm pretty sure Cybertronians feel pain too so I'm curious as to why he's not grunting or yelling in pain as the drills and lasers cut into him. "Although Breakdown himself can't see so well anymore." I scowl at the jab he made about the 'con, considering its through his eye we are basically seeing Silas through.

"We don't fear you." Ratchet states firmly, not deterred at the actions of the MECH leader.

"Oh, but you should. In fact, I would strongly urge that you not stand your ground." Something on how Silas says that statement leaves me feeling a bit… odd about what he means.

It's when a slight beeping is heard that its known what's going on. "It's a trap!" Optimus yells.

"Would this be a 'roll out' kind of trap?" Arcee asks but now's really not the time for them.

"Guys, get out of there!" I yell to them. My mic is still turned off to the outside of my armor so the only thing Bulkhead sees is me stopping and me look like I'm yelling.

"Evacuate now!" Optimus orders and the team do just that. I can't watch as they escape because after the bomb explodes, my feed is cut off from them.

"Optimus? Ratchet? Bumblebee, Arcee!? Come in…! Crap!" I yell in frustration at having lost communication with them.

"Mason." I look at Bulkhead, who's staring at me. "What's wrong?"

I turn on my mic to properly address him. "The others got hit with a trap. I think their alright but I lost connection to them."

"Then lets go back and help them." He begins to go but I stop him.

"Hold it."

"What!? Why?" He asks.

I look out the way we came in before looking deeper into the tunnel. "Before I got cut off, Breakdown was in a tunnel getting operated on. And we saw a MECH car head down this way. Silas was with him so if we can get to them soon, we can force MECH to pull out and not have to deal with them anymore."

"Huuuuhh. Good thinking. Let's move quick then." Since we're closer to the enemy than our comrades, we agree it's best to focus on taking out MECH here and now than possibly getting ambushed by them later on when we're helping the others. Besides we still have to save Breakdown from them. We continue to move in and progress where hopefully MECH's base of operations is. We push our progress with more speed this time but we're halted as we come to a giant steel door covering up the whole tunnel. "Well, looks like we're done with the stealth portion." Bulkhead begins to say before he pulls out his signature wrecker mitts: the wrecking balls ready to tear down the door. "Time for the wrecking portion." He says with a smile and begins pounding on the door. Already I can tell we're going to have trouble as soon as he breaks down the door so I ready my gun in my left and my blade in the other. Optimus specifically told me if I'm going to be fighting with the Autobots, then I should fight as one. Meaning no human casualties under any circumstance. I may have been accustomed to taking lives at this point, though I'm not sure if it'll be the same with humans, but he will not tolerate me killing them unless I absolutely have to.

"You got this, Bulk?" I ask.

"Don't sweat. Ngh! Almost there!" He replies as there are massive depressed dents in the door now. I crouch low to the ground and ready myself for a sprint and move just as he gets ready to let loose the last hit. With a massive crash, the doors tear open for us. "Marco!" Even when I'm moving in, I can't help but smile at the playfulness Bulkhead is.

"Aah!" Several troopers run and yell as the rampaging Autobot shrugs off their fire and continues to hit them away.

"You're supposed to say 'Polo'!" He accentuates the word by smacking more of them away. While he's recovering, I run forward closing myself in against the enemy where I open fire around them, intentionally missing my shots so they are forced to duck or fall under the pretense they are going to get shot. It just means instead that I can move in up close and take them down. I body charge one guy, making him grunt as he goes flying away from me. Another opens fire on me and even though I have a worried moment of getting shot, regardless the bullets deflect off my armor, allowing me to dash forward and slice his gun in half. He looks at the cut weapon before I backhand him away from me and focus on the others. While Bulkhead pushes on and deals with the bulk of the enemy forces, knocking them off balance with his thunderous steps and attacks near them before pushing them away, I move in on the stragglers and knock them out of commission before they can try to do any damage. One of them opens fire on me as closes the distance between us but his bullets don't do anything and when he gets close enough, he tries to melee me with his gun but I simply grab the weapon, smack him in the face with his own weapon before doing a roundhouse kick to his side, sending him sprawling away from me.

I take a second to look at the rifle before sulking. "Aw man. Was hoping for something new. It's the same." Since the rifle is the exact same as the one I first stole, I throw it with immense power at another recovering solider, knocking him out before he can do anything. Another two of them try to tackle me to the ground since I'm a much smaller target compared to Bulk but all they do is slide me back barely a foot. I grab one of them with both arms before spinning and launching him against the wall, making him hit it and crumple to the ground knocked out.

*Smack*

"Arhhhhhh!" The other tries to punch me while I'm distracted from the throw but all that does is jerk my head a little to the side and he grabbing his hand in pain. While he yells, I can't help but shake my head before pushing him away; again like the other, he hits the wall before slumping unconscious. That's basically how it goes as I continue to knock the fight out of the enemy, their bullets bounce off my armor, I cut and break their weapons while keeping up with Bulkheads rampage. As soon as we turn another curve, we spot our target: Breakdown strapped down and no longer being operated on, most likely because of our interference.

Bulkhead takes his time as he walks up to the downed bot while I trail just behind him, keeping an eye out for anyone getting ready to ambush us. "It must be your lucky day." Bulkhead states before he begins tearing off the restraints. I too jump up and begin slicing some of them off as well, much to Breakdowns surprise at my appearance but is more surprised at the fact that two Autobots are helping him, a Decepticon.

"W-w-what are you doing?" Breakdown stammers as he asks.

"Getting you out of here. Yeah, I don't believe it either." Bulkhead says and extends a hand to the bot. After a moments hesitation, Breakdown takes the offered hand and lets Bulkhead pull him up. "Can you walk?"

"I-I think so." As soon as he gets to his feet, Breakdown takes a long hard look at me. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is—"

"Stryker!" I quickly interrupt Bulkhead before he gives him my name. They both stare at me at my sudden outburst, even Bulkhead as he looks at me confused, before I relax and straighten up. "The names Stryker." I properly introduce my 'name' as I cross my arms.

"… Uhhh, Stryker, then." Thankfully, Bulkhead goes along with the ploy.

"Huh, thanks anyway, Stryker." He nods to me and I nod back. We may be enemies but at least he can see how we basically saved his life.

An alarm goes off. "Can you run?" Bulkhead asks.

"Never run when you can fight." Now that he's not anyone's guinea pig anymore, Breakdown is pumped and ready to get some payback as he states and pulls out his hammer.

"Just keep that thing pointed away from us, all right?" Bulkhead makes sure he knows that before they begin to move down the tunnel.

"Get going you guys. I'm gonna see if I can get something off this computer." I tell them as I walk up to the computer.

"What, seriously? Now!?" Bulkhead asks incredulously at me.

"I am not letting an opportunity to dig into MECH's databanks and research go to waste. Just go out, do some damage and get everyone attention. Besides," I look at Breakdown specifically, "If it's possible I might be able to erase the data they got on you Breakdown."

The 'con perks up at that idea and smirks. "I'm good with that. C'mon Bulkhead." He pats the bots shoulder before gesturing down the tunnel. "While he messes with MECH internally, why don't we mess with them physically?" He accentuates that by slamming his fists into each other.

At the offer to wreck their enemies, he smiles and nods before turning back to me. "Just hurry then!" He offers one last time before they both begin running out. Now that I'm alone with a computer, I get to work.

"Alright then, lets get to it." I waste no time in hacking my way in getting what I can.

* * *

Unfortunately, their wasn't nearly as much as I would have liked to get from MECH in all honesty. The computer wasn't their primary mainframe or their base for that matter. It only had some of the base information for their projects and equipment I could find and any information I could find on Breakdown or stuff relating to Cybertronians in general was already wiped and transferred off-site. Still I didn't want to leave them with anything so I downloaded all the info I could onto a small drive embedded in my suit for just such occasions, wiped the rest, initiated a meltdown of the computers hardrive systems so theirs no way they can recover anything from it, even if they get the computer out of here.

Now that my work is done I transform and ride out towards the entrance to make it to the others. As I make it to the entrance, I find there are still some soldiers inside the tunnel but thankfully their focused on the bots outside fighting. Easy enough for me to sneak up on them as they don't hear me transform and come up behind them. It's enough for me to simply throw a punch to the back of their heads, knocking them out almost instantly and giving them the mother of all headaches when they wake up, but at least they'll wake up eventually.

Now that I'm clear in the tunnel, I move outside where I join Bulkhead and Breakdown in fighting the majority of the MECH forces. The two of them waste no time in attacking the ground mercilessly, knocking the soldiers down and throwing them off-balance, as well as grabbing the cars that are skirting all over the place and completely upending them. While Bulkhead sort of pulls his hits to spare lives, I feel like Breakdown has no reservations as his hits feel like they go full on without pulling them. At one point I watch as Breakdown grabs a car and launches it at a nearby helicopter. Don't know if both occupants of either vehicle survive but I can't focus on that as I fight back.

Like I've done before, I fire around the soldiers to force them back while at times I also aim for their guns. I never stay in one spot as I step, duck, jump and twist myself around in all manner of ways to keep the enemy's fire shifting. Some of them even try to close the distance to me again while they fire at me but I continue overpower them as I knock them away, tear apart and break their weapons in front of them with my blades or hands. It seems like an endless wave of them as no matter how many MECH soldiers we seem to take down more just continue to come out of the stonework around us. The barrage of bullets continue to hit us hard nonstop as the three of us are forced to pull our arms in front of us as a means to shield with what little we can. In the span of the fight, I notice a couple of unique helicopters hovering a little ways away from us and staring right at us. Zooming in on the cockpit of one, my eyes widen as I spot Silas in one of them.

What makes these helicopters unique is the fact they have some sort of gun at the bottom of them. Silas launches some sort of railgun cannon blast straight at us. "MOVE!" I yell loudly to my partners and we manage to dodge the first shot as it explodes where we were but the onslaught of bullets is waning on Bulkhead as he's forced to kneel on the ground. "Bulkhead!" I yell the Autobots name in worry but before I can help him another onslaught of bullets forces me to cover myself and crouch.

"Get him!"

"Take him!"

Several MECH troopers tackle and try to dogpile me in my lowered state and they almost manage to. I cross my arms on my chest as they fight to push me to the ground and possibly incapacitate me but my strength prevents that from them. Even so, I can't help but look on in horror as now both helicopters spool up their cannons and aim right at the injured Autobot. _'Bulkhead!'_ I tense my body and grit my teeth. "Nooo! Get… OFFF!" With a loud cry, I throw the soldiers off and stand to my full height before reeling my arms back and thrusting them forward.

*BRRRRRRRR*

Forgoing Optimus's rule, I unleash both gatling guns straight at the helicopters with all I have. The bullets fly true and fast at them and impact hard against the body of the flying vehicles, hitting it all over before my concentrated fire destroys the first helicopters tail rotor, forcing it into a tail spin towards the ground. My fires shifts to second one with Silas in it but before I can disable it, it fires. One of my shots hits the engine of the main rotor of the vehicle before I stop firing and can only watch in stunned silence as the beam heads straight for Bulkhead. Before I can utter a warning, Breakdown comes to the rescue and pulls Bulkhead out of the path of the shot, saving his spark. Even with some of the bullets impacting my armor, I can't help but smile at the gesture and him saving my friends life. I don't stay standing for long though as I getting back to shooting and disabling the enemy. For whatever reason though we don't continue fighting for too long as MECH begins to retreat. I watch as Silas in his smoking helicopter leaves but I don't see anything that points to them forcing their retreat.

"What? Why are they leaving?" I ask as I walk up to Breakdown and Bulkhead but they are stumped too. Before I can ask anymore, I get a notification of something moving in. "Hold on. I got contacts moving in towards us. Fast movers." I inform them as I pull up some readings on my left arm. I pull up the radar function and see over half a dozen blips speeding towards us.

"Your backup?" Breakdown asks. From the sound of the jets, I don't think so, especially with how fast their moving towards us. Way too fast for cars or ground vehicles to be honest. It becomes apparent who it is as the movers come in over a building, transform in mid-air and land in front of us. "Commander Starscream!" Yes, Starscream and a small squad of his soldiers.

"Consorting with the enemy, Breakdown?" Starscream asks the 'con we rescued.

"But Bulkhead and Stryker got me out of there." Breakdown replies.

"Hmmmm, Stryker, ehhh?" Starscream mumbles as he looks down at me. I take a step forward, easing down Bulkhead from getting to close, so Starscream and I can get better acquainted when he leans down to me. "You don't look like a proper Autobot. More like aaaaa… minicon. He he he… what can you do?" He asks in a low somewhat playful voice. No doubt he wants to try to gauge how I am considering to him, I don't look all that powerful. Slowly, I cock my head to the side and bring my right arm up close to his face.

*SHING*

"Guaaaahh!" Starscream lets out an unflattering loud yelp as the blade come out of my wrist, inches from his optics. He jumps back and almost loses his balance but manages to regain his balance.

I slowly turn and point the blade at him. "I can do enough. Enough to end you… should you push it." I reply my own threat directly at him. He growls lowly in anger at the embarrassing display I made him do before I take a few steps back and make my way back to Bulkheads side.

"Hmph!" Starscream scoffs at our exchange before he readdresses the former captured 'con. "Regardless, many spark-felt thanks, Autobots for the rescue of dear Breakdown. Now destroy them." He outright orders Breakdown to do.

Breakdown hesitates at the command as he stares at Bulkhead and I. "But you—"

"Do you plan on joining their ranks anytime soon?!" Starscream yells in Breakdowns face, not really liking the hesitance that Breakdown displayed. "No?! Then be done with him already!" He demands yet again for Breakdown to do. Even though he hesitate before, I feel a little sad seeing Breakdown go through with it as he looks at us and evilly smiles.

"Tough break, you two. Maybe in the next life." Without another word, Breakdown pulls out his hammer and charges at us. We both stand out ground and ready ourselves to tank his attack and while Bulkhead does just that, I dash forward and slide between his legs before nipping at one of his ankles with my blade. He grunts at the small cut and its my move that was able to knock him off balance. He tries to hit Bulkhead but his move comes off as slow. Slow enough for Bulk to dodge the attack and hit him right in the back without any effort. Breakdown goes down easily enough.

Starscream lets out a growl at the quick defeat we gave him "Destroy hi- aaah!" Bulkhead smashes the 'con in the face before he can finish, making him go flying back into some of the others.

"Ha! Nice one Bulk!" I shout to the Autobot. He chuckles at the move but some of the troops begin getting back up and aim their weapons at us. Before I can do anything or try to fight back, Bulkhead reaches past me and grabs onto Bulkheads prone form.

"Ma- Stryker, down!" He shouts at me to do and I do just that. I duck to the floor as Bulkhead begins to spin his arch-enemy around above me. "Hammer time!" He yells and throws Breakdown right at the 'cons. Again he knocks them down. "Come on! I'll scrap all of you!" He boasts to the enemy as loud as he can. I jump onto my feet to see all of them getting back up and getting ready to attack us. We both ready ourselves for a fight but before they can fight us, our backup arrives finally. Arcee, Optimus, Ratchet and Bumblebee come running in from behind the enemy, firing all the while.

Seeing as their caught in a rock and a hard place, Starscream does the smart thing, for once. "Retreat!" Order given, Starscream and his men transform into the air and fly off into the night sky and away from our range. Breakdown gets himself up and pushes Bulkhead away before he too transforms and rides off. I go to aim my weapons at them but looking at the ammo counter, I've already expended a lot of ammo already so it would be pointless for me to fire now. I let my arms fall and let out a relieved sigh.

"Engaging the enemy on your own was even more foolish this time, Bulkhead. Even you, Mason." We both look down at the words Optimus states to us. "But I am honored that you saw fit to rescue your rival. You have truly risen above yourself." He directs the last part to Bulkhead, who in turn perks up and looks happy.

He smiles before turning to where the enemy had retreated towards. "Did you see? I beat Breakdown and bashed them all with his own hammer! I won the rematch!" The wrecker proudly, happily and excitedly announces to us all. Arcee, Bumblebee and I look at each other before back to him with our own expressions of happiness towards are friends.

"I'm sure Miko would be proud." Arcee says to the wrecker good heartedly before looking at me, not as good heartedly. "So why didn't you tell us you were taking on MECH?" She asks me, a little annoyed. I rub the back of my head embarrassed.

"After the explosion you guys stepped into, I lost contact with you all and I couldn't raise you again. Either the mountain blocked my connection, or its possible MECH has some sort of jammer in the area. Wouldn't really surprise me dealing with them." I explain as best I can. The area we wen to was basically their main operations center in this place so its possible a jammer really.

"Considering their firepower and technology prowess, a jammer is not far off." Ratchet comments. I nod at that but something gets my attention as I turn to the helicopter crash. _'Speaking of technology…'_

"Hey, can you guys help me out before we leave?" I ask them all. "I think I know another project or two I can work on." I finish saying with a knowing smile. At the smirks Ratchet and Arcee give me, they have an idea of what I'm talking about, or what I'm getting at.

* * *

"The test subject escaped, but we've managed to sanitize the location and transfer most of the newly acquired data to another facility. The diagnostic scans of the subject's vital components were thorough enough for us to initiate Project Chimera. The power of the living machines will, someday soon, belong to MECH." Silas, the enigmatic leader of MECH, finishes speaking into a recording journal he's been making in their new base. In order to keep his thoughts in check as well as future plans, journal entries only he can check will be what needs to make sure everything will run smoothly.

*Knock*Knock*Knock*

"Enter." Silas commands after he shuts off the record and the door to the room opens, allowing the soldier to walk in carrying a tablet. "What is it, soldier?"

"Sir, before we could sanitize everything and scrub our systems of any trace of us, we had an unauthorized system access just before we retreated."

"What?" Silas mutters confused as he turns around to the soldier. "How? All our systems and access points are locked tight. And by who for their matter?" He asks the soldier, now genuinely curious about this breach.

"Unknown sir. All we could get was this video recording." The soldier says and pulls up the recording feed on the tablet before turning it over to his commanding officer. Silas takes the offered device and plays the video. It starts off at the moment when Silas and his team of engineers make their exit from the operating section of the tunnel they were in. Flashes of light can be seen off screen before two of the mechanized creatures come into view, one the same size as their test subject, the other significantly smaller but moves swiftly as they both save Breakdown. While the other two leave, the smaller of the three actually stays behind and heads up to the computer. _'interesting. Why would one of the alien titans be interested in our computer?'_ Silas questions as he watches the individual go through the computer, easily bypassing their security measures. _'Lets get a closer look at you.'_ Tapping a few commands, the camera view changes to an angle built into the computer itself. Now he has a clear as day front view of the new user of the computer. He taps away at the computer before plugging in a device into the computer, waiting a bit as he works on more commands, before pulling it out and plugging it into a compartment on his shoulder. Once he's done, he inputs some more commands and the feed cuts out. Relocating back to the original camera is futile as that camera is down too. Silas looks back up to the soldier. "That's all we could get, sir. He left no traces whatsoever for us to track. Scans and intel also indicates he's an alien robot we haven't seen before. He's new and he's been using material bullet weaponry."

More images and capture footage from their own vehicles and body cams reveals while the individual is small, he was no less capable in holding off every one of him and his men. During the fight, it was hard for Silas to actually get a bead on him through the mess but seeing as how he took down one of their choppers and almost his own, he can see the peculiarity of this one. "Hmmm, interesting. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I'll keep it in mind. Leave me." He states to the soldier, who nods, salutes and walks out of the room. As soon as he hears the door close, Silas stares intently at the tablet before he pulls up a still image of the fighter. Unlike the others, this ones attacks her fearsome and dealt significant damage to each of his men, now that he remembers the reports on their medical teams. "Who are you?"

* * *

 **This came as a surprise to me. Originally I wanted to do the episode before this one but after much consideration, I decided that I think I should go ahead and do a slight flashback scene instead of the most significant contribution Mason would have in the entire episode. In any case for this episode Mason shows his skills in taking on the forces of MECH and while he hasn't taken a human life yet, he has taken lives before what with the moral dilemma he had before when he destroyed his first Decepticon. Even so, you all know Optimus's rules when it comes to the lives of humans so even though he may want to, Mason must adhere to the rules his leader has given them all.**

 **As for the sudden name Stryker, I figured maybe Mason when he's in his armored suit he can have a sort of codename or an alternate name he can go by when he's in it. Since he'll be going up against the Decepticons more often, and in this case MECH, he's got to keep his identity somewhat a secret to avoid his enemy's from using his real human name and life as an exploit, like his parents, which may be touched up on next chapter should I'm able to. Also let's be honest, both Megatron and Silas will no doubt use any means necessary in order to get a leg up against the Autobots and Megatron of course views their relationship with humans as weak but exploitable. Mason may be able to fight now but he's got to step lightly.**

 **Here's the reviews:**

 **Kaijuqueen13:** I know it is. Thank you very much.

 **serius:** Glad you liked it. Showing off his armor was definitely a point I wanted to get to and I'm glad everyone's liking it so far. More hints or outright information will be revealed soon about Mason's family so make sure to keep an eye out for stuff like that. Anyway, now Mason can be much more effective in combat and contribute a lot more to the team. Thank you for the review.

 **Onyx:** As is the life of one of the few humans that knows the existence of space faring cybernetic aliens.

 **Terminal343 (Ch.1):** That would be awesome. I highly doubt it but it would be awesome nonetheless.

 **Fluffy guy:** Thanks.

 **Patriota1993:** In the next chapter, not so sure about that but eventually he will find out about Mason's suit and he will… not… be… happy. I can assure you of that.

 **Cf96:** Thanks. Glad you liked it.

 **Blaze1992:** True, I would have liked to have him use an armor suit or vehicle of those types of calibers too but I wasn't too into those ideas. I wanted something unique for him to make, while also subtle, and wasn't too over the top for him to make given the situation he was put into. Still, I may have some ideas for upgrades and variations to his armor for the future but for now he's going to make do with what he has now.

 **Onyx:** Yes, yes it is, and they will.

 **Dancing of Doom:** I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to decline. I'm not too fond of adding other peoples OC's into my stories and those that I do add, besides the main OC character of course, are kept as low key as I can depending on the situation. Thanks anyway.

 **Onyx (Ch.1):** Don't worry, your curiosity will hopefully be sated soon. Mason's gonna need some more powerful equipment so expect some new gear and upgrades eventually.

 **Onyc (Ch.1):** Oh he will. As much as suicidal it might seem for someone as small as Mason, even in his suit, to go against Megatron, he will eventually face the leader in combat.

 **Beacher:** Ah ah ahhhh… that would be telling. Can't give off spoilers or anything that will crush peoples hopes in the future of the story. The mystery will remain whether that will come to fruition or not.

 **Lots of Onyx's during this bout of reviews. Don't know if its really the same person or not but if it is, be aware of possible confusions in the future. Whenever I get a review I pretty much just go down the list and reply to them in order here, just so you all know.**

 **Anyway, this was fun and I thank you all for your support. Go ahead and fave, follow, review or whatever you want to do, but most of all, make sure to have a great day and as always, have fun reading.**


	17. 16 Crisscross

No rest for the wicked as the saying goes. Now, I'm not really a wicked person, I mean I can hurt people pretty easily but I wouldn't say I'm wicked.

I don't know why I'm saying that. Fact of the matter is I've found more to work on since our last mission and I've hit the midnight oil as per usual when I've been researching and working on some new projects. Hopefully they'll become a success and further improve my means of combat and helping the others. It's always nice getting my hands-on new tech for me to experiment with and engineer it to my or the teams needs. That cannon that was on the helicopter that Silas using was something else than the guns used by his men so while I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to take down Silas's helicopter, I'm glad I was at least able to take down his partner craft and get my hands on the weapon. It was pretty broken up from the crash so it's going to take me awhile to get into it and make sure I can use it but at the very least, I have it.

So after getting to work and having to retrofit the tech for my own use, as well as working on other projects I have, it's still going to take a bit of time but until then, I might as well continue to help out.

"On you left!"

"Watch it!"

" _We've almost got them!"_

One of those moments in helping out has to do with me, Bumblebee and Arcee in a massive firefight right now with energon crystals all over the place. This place is a large cave system that was recently unearthed because of a mining company and a cave-in ensued, forcing the miners to back out and thankfully not see the energon deposit here. In an instant, our scanners lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as the deposit was unearthed so we immediately called Agent Fowler, had him evacuate the site under the guise of a possible sinkhole occurring, and we went in to start gathering up the energon.

No surprise, the Decepticons mobilized as well. So now here we are fighting in the middle of the cave trying not to set off the energon on both sides. "Their pushing! 'Bee covering fire! Arcee you- Arcee what are you doing?!" I yell as in the middle of the shooting it seems she's getting freakin' call!

"Talking to Jack!" She replies like its no problem, one hand pressed to the side of her head while her other is her blaster shooting back at the enemy. "Negative, Jack. Can we talk about this later?"

"Please!" I add over the firefight sounds as I move in close to the femme to cover her, spraying a flurry of rounds down at the enemy. Jack is calling her right now so I can't really understand why he's calling her now of all times.

"Bee, Stryker, can you handle it?" Or why she has to leave now!

Bee nods to her and lets down a suppressive fire while I groan. "Graaa! Fine! But let him know I'm going to have a serious conversation with him!" I shout and fire back at the 'cons. and I confirm we can.

"Ratchet, I need a bridge." Arcee barely responds to my words as she takes off while Bee and I mop up the last of the enemy. Once we hear the sounds of the ground bridge opening up behind us, we look to each other and nod before charging the enemy. Only two are left so we take one each. The 'con misses me while I send a spray towards his legs, making him grunt as he falls onto the ground on his knees before I extend my left blade. He barely manages to look up at me before with a combination of my jump and my boosters, I launch myself right at his face, my arm pulled back before I stab it straight through his head. The force of the blow forces him onto his back in heap. Sparks fly out as I dig the blade until everything goes silent. With abated breath, I pull it out and quickly look around for anymore contacts.

Fortunately, the only one left is Bee's and he finishes his off with several crushing blows. "Ratchet, the site is clear. We're ready to begin extracting the energon." I call and inform him.

"Roger that, I'll begin gathering my tools." He replies and cut off our call.

I walk to a nearby rock and sit down on it before I slip my helmet off so I can breathe for a second. "Hey Bee!" I call my comrade. He turns around and walks up to me after I call him. "What do you think Arcee needed with Jack?" I ask and slip my helmet back on, you know so I can talk to him.

" _You got me. Seemed pretty urgent if she needed to leave RIGHT now."_ He tells me and I nod along.

"That's true." I reply and sit down on a large rock to rest. "I'm glad you guys took to using my codename." I comment to him.

" _No problem. But I'm curious, why the name?"_

"I don't know. I guess I wanted it so I can have some form of identity other than my real name when using this thing." I say and pat my armored chest. "Plus, it feels more appropriate when I'm wearing this, you know?"

" _Oh, that's cool."_ As soon as 'Bee says that, the ground bridge portal opens up. We quickly get to our feet in case its more 'cons but thankfully its Ratchet.

"Nice of you to join us." I sarcastically say to him.

"Yes yes so nice to hear." He replies in an equally sarcastic voice, as much as he's kind of known for at this point. "Come on, lets get to work on gathering as much of this as we can before Megatron decides to send more of his troops to stop us."

"Yeah yeah we know the drill." Bumblebee and I begin helping him set up the necessary equipment. While Bumblebee begins gathering the energon crystals, I walk up to Ratchet and help him with the transport. "Hey Ratchet?"

"Yes?" He replies without looking at me.

"How's that other project coming along?" I ask. "You know…" I accentuate by waving my left blade a little.

He takes a moment to stop and think before working on his equipment again. "Slow, but making progress. I'd say in time it will be a success." He says with a smile, which I soon sport one as well.

"Perfect! That'll be a perfect boost for myself in combat." I grin with happiness.

" _Here you go."_

*Thud*

Bumblebee drops a big energon crystal right next to us before going off and gathering more. Ratchet and I stare at it for a few seconds before looking at each other. "As well as helping out with this." He comments as he pats the crystal.

"True."

* * *

Meanwhile, at a secure facility deep in a large thick forest, two individuals begin to plan their preparation for their next course.

"Your ship's black box sustained serious damage in the explosion." Silas, the leader of MECH, speaks to his newfound partner under… certain circumstances that have compelled him too. "But our software was able to reconstruct a few frames from the security feed." Silas informs as they watch the computer compile the data they have until they have what's needed.

"That's him. My Jack." Arachnid, a huntress who fancies herself a collector of exotic trophies from different species she encounters from different planets as she travels the cosmos. Well, she did until a human teenager blew up her ship, stranding her on Earth and now having to partner up with a group of humans to get what she wants. "And what of Mason? Can you find him?" She asks eagerly to the leader. While Jack is what she wants as a trophy, there is no doubt that Mason has been the most cunning and resilient of her targets so instead of placing him with the rest of her collection, a living pet trophy is something she's looking forward to making him… by force.

"He never went anywhere close enough to your ship to allow us to find him. So we don't have any footage of him." He informs her. This makes her growl in anger and the servos in her claws whir audibly as she clenches her fists. "However," This gets her attention, "If Jack is a friend of Mason and the Autobots, then where we find Jack, we'll find this Mason." Arachnid gets a predatory grin on her face at the idea that he's not completely lost to her yet. "Our facial-recognition algorithm will send Jack's image across the web to search for him… Another kind of web." He clarifies seeing as transformers most likely won't have internet in their area. It takes a few seconds for the search engine to go through until they have what we need. "Ah, the mother lode." Silas grins at the sheer ease of information they just happened across. As much as it's obvious when it comes to the majority of teenagers.

"Government database?" Arachnid asks.

"Social-networking page." He tells her as Jack's account page comes up, bringing up every bit of information that he has done or placed in it. "Everything worth knowing about Jack Darby is right here. Age, 16. Jasper, Nevada. Mother… June Darby, a nurse." He finishes listing off the last of the pertinent information they need now on finding him. With their targets in mind, its time to set up the ambush.

* * *

It took us a little bit but we were able to get a sizeable amount of energon from that mine to keep us good for a long while. Good thing too because I was starting to run low myself on my armor. Having used Cliffjumpers T-cog to enable the transformation of my suit, its not surprise that I can't use regular gasoline or human fuel to make this thing move so energon is the name of the game for me. I think I actually prefer it too. Makes me feel like an actual transformer.

Now that the energon deposit has been cleaned out by us and no other priority missions have popped up, I relax in my room and passed most of the time with taking apart the helicopter weapon. It's still a mess but with some work I should be able to get what I need. Eventually.

Still, I relax and sit at my computer. "Hmmm, what are the others doing?" I talk out loud as I go through the cameras of the base and try to remember where everyone is. "It's pretty late, so Miko and Raf are more than likely home. Jack may be heading home just about, especially after his mom didn't like how much he's been missing work and school. Which is why Arcee was ground bridged earlier to his house…" I recall what happened and what most likely happened to the others. "Ratchet's sorting the energon, Bulkhead and Optimus are out on patrol, and Bee's powered down after the fight we went through, so… what now?" I ask myself and lean back in my chair. _'I could continue working on my stuff, work out any kinks I could find. Maybe…'_ "I don't know." I groan and let my head fall back.

*Ring*Ring* *Ring*Ring*

My phone goes off. I pull it out and answer. "Mason here."

"Mason!"

"Jack?" I ask in concern as I hear Jack's voice over the phone loud and possibly frantic. "What's going on? What's wrong?" I'm on full alert now as I lean forward.

"I-I-I need…"

"We need you to meet us at his house." Arcee speaks up, now on the line too. "You know where he lives right?"

"Yeah, I do. But what's wrong? Do I need to get the others?"

"NO!" I freeze at the loud negative Jack gives. "Don't tell the others. Just you… please."

"… Alright Jack. No problem. I'm on my way." At the end, he sounded… scared. _'This is bad.'_

"Don't bother ground bridging. Just grab your bike and come on." Arcee adds before hanging up.

"My bike?" I ask but the call was already terminated. "What do you-?" I begin to question but soon I nod in understanding. "Alright then, time to move." I pocket my phone and get moving. Time does not seem to be on my side.

* * *

"They did what?!" I ask loudly and angrily over the wind that passes us by.

"MECH has my mom. They wanted only me, Arcee and you for some reason and made sure that we could call the others." Jack quickly explains to me.

"So that's why you wanted me to come straight to you, instead of getting the others." I surmise. I was confused at first why they wanted me to straight and meet them. Now I know and I can understand why. Still, of course it had to be MECH.

"Exactly. As long as they have June, we can't afford to deviate from their demands. Pretty sure Silas is still listening to us." Arcee says. As I look over at them while we pass a corner, Jack holds up the communicator that he gave them to tell them of out problem.

"Silas you suck!" I can't help but yell out at him. Jack gives me a look of horror at the fact I'm insulting the man that's holding his mom hostage.

"Don't test me. You've been quite a thorn in MECH's side as it is." Silas replys before going silent. I too fall silent as I focus back on driving.

Jack for his part simply shakes his head before hooking it to his belt. "If anything happens to my mom because of my connection to all this—" Jack fearfully states and with good reason. His mom had no idea nor any affiliation to our extraterrestrial friends. Her getting hurt because of us is wrong on all accounts.

"Jack, MECH is only interested in me. Once they get what they want, they'll let your mom go." Arcee grimly states in an effort of getting his hopes up.

She fails. "That's not exactly reassuring. You're family, too." I smile at the statement.

"Don't worry Jack. We'll get her back. And we won't be sacrificing anyone to do it." I do what I can to assure him its going to be alright. He smiles before we focus again in driving to our destination. At the very least, I'm glad its going to be subtle because we are heading out of town and come to some type of quarry area, complete with a ton of warehouses, containers and conveyor belts all over the place. We come to a slow ride into the place, being careful to make sure we aren't ambushed. "Crap." I comment as dozens of red lasers paint both Jack and I. Several soldiers come out of the shadows and begin closing the distance to us.

"So what's the plan?" Jack quietly asks the bike under him.

"The usual."

"What else is there." I add along with her as both Arcee and I rev up and push ourselves into a wheelie towards the enemy. The bike frames block the shots from hitting Jack and I as we push through them. We quickly pass by some corners to make them lose line of sight of us. We pass by into a lit up warehouse and take a moment to breathe. "That was close. Where do we go from here?" I ask out loud as I take off my helmet and clip it to the back of my bike.

"Mom?!" Jack calls out for his mom. Normally I wouldn't like it for one of us to yell and give away our position, but she's the reason we're here so the faster we find her the better.

"Looking for June?"

My breathing hitches as I hear a completely new voice somewhere around us. "Oh god." I mutter in horror as I distinctly remember the voice.

We look up and find a Cybertronian I was not expecting to meet here as she stares down at us from above the rafters. "She's hanging around here somewhere." Arachnid gleefully states.

Arcee transforms and glares angrily at her. "Airachnid." I get ready to transform myself but before Arcee and I can fight, Arachnid tangles her up with her webbing before launching another gob at me.

"Arh!" I grunt as my arms are forced against my sides. My fear before is switched to anger now.

"What's she doing here?" Jack asks but he doesn't go far as Silas and his men walk up to us, and they don't seem all that hostile to her for some reason, which makes this situation even worse.

"Help them, please. They're human, like you. You can't let Airachnid—" Arce begins to almost beg to Silas.

"A few human lives are a small price to pay for a miracle of science like yourself." I didn't like Silas before but now… now my thoughts are going to some dark places, similar to certain transformer next to us that scared me on my arm. We can do nothing as Arcee's shot with some kind of EMP blast that knocks her out.

"Arcee!" Jack and I call out worried at her but theirs nothing we can do.

"You and I will have a private session later. Promise." Especially with Arachnid here as she leers on us. That's even more evident as she leans in close to me, the smile on her face ever present. "You… especially." She licks her lips. I growl at her, my anger increasing and I really want to hurt her.

Silas walks up closer to us with more of his men. "Gentlemen."

"I'm still learning about humankind, but one thing is clear to me, Jack… You people care deeply about family. Therefore, the sweetest revenge I could possibly devise would be to make you watch as I take your family apart." She grimly states to my friend as she moves right up to my friend before turning to me. "And I think it would be a nice reminder to you what happens when you resist." She finishes saying.

"If you hurt my mother—"

"You remember how much I enjoy sport, don't you, Jack?" She turns back and interrupts him. "So I'll give you the opportunity to save your mother. I've stashed her close by. If you can rescue her before the stroke of 12:00, I will let both of you go unharmed. Deal?" She points to the many computer monitors here in this room and see the clock she was referring to, slowly counting up from 11:53.

"And if I can't?" Jack asks, but really, I think we know she she's going to mean.

"What do you think?"

"Everything you do Arachnid… makes me want to kill you more and more." I threaten her. It doesn't faze her as she continues to smile at us.

Jack looks fearful at her before glancing at me, Arcee and then to Silas. "Please don't let her do this." Jack tries to beg and plead to Silas as he runs up to the soldier. "You can let us go. We- we won't tell anyone."

"Enough." He pushes Jack down and away from him, obviously not swayed in the least to help us.

"Yes, Jack. Man up already. Six minutes." She taunts him yet again, even the time is still counting down. He gets up and looks fearfully at the clock before looking at me.

"Go Jack. We'll be fine. I promise." I reassure him.

"Ohhh, I wouldn't be too sure of that." Arachnid speaks as she crawls up next to me and place a claw on my shoulder.

He looks at her then at me and I smile at him before nodding and jerking my head to the side towards the open door. Now knowing not to worry about Arcee and I, he nods back with a determined expression and runs out. "Mom? Mom!"

While Jack runs off looking for his mom, Arachnid meanwhile continues to have her claw on my shoulder and grins like a predator at the effort Jack is making to find her prisoner. She chuckles darkly before leaning in close to me. "This is going to be fun."

"Oh go rust your tailpipe off." I venomously reply.

"Oh hohohooo, feisty." She runs her claws under my chin as she chuckles, forcing to look at her as she laughs. "It's going to be so much fun breaking you." She chuckles one last time before I jerk myself away from her. "Keep an eye on him will you? Thanks." She tells the members of MECH before stalking off, no doubt to continue to mess with my friend as he desperately searches for his mom.

"Hmmm, lets prepare her for transport. Let's give him a front row seat to the show." Silas menacingly states as his men get to work. While they begin to move Arcee onto a platform for them to move her easily in her unconscious state, two guards grab the handles of my motorcycle and wheel me until I am next to Arcee and staring at the computer screens, showing camera angles of all over this place. As the minutes pass, we watch as my friend continues to search desperately for his mother while Arachnid continues to follow him, putting him even more on edge. All the while, only one guard has been placed on me. _'Good, it looks like they never figured me out when I helped spring Breakdown.'_ I think and continue to stare at the screens. "Now I know we promised the spider bot that she would have first crack at you, but something tells me she plans to turn our mutual crisscross into a double-cross." Silas says as he looks at Arcee.

I scoff. "What was your first clue?" I comment. "She's a spider. A hunter. A predator. To humanity we're simply her play things and I'm betting she did something to get you to agree to this little arrangement you got going on."

"And what makes you think that?" Silas asks getting in close to my face to intimidate me but he doesn't.

I lean closer to him. "Because there's no way you seeked her out simply to be partners. My guess is… you fought, she won… and this was your only option to save your skin… less you be another dead weight trophy in her collection." I speak in a low tone. Finishing it off with a smile.

*Smack*

"Arhh!" I grunt as he punches me. I'm almost knocked off my bike from the punch but I remain sitting on it, although with it feeling like a bat was taken to my head. I work my jaw a little to get the soreness out from the punch. "Ohhh, looks like I hit a nerve… or I was on point." In hindsight, I really shouldn't be antagonizing him but at this point, I'm too angry at him and Arachnid to care.

He stares at me deathly and I expect another punch but it doesn't come. "Silas, we don't have the means of transporting it right now." One of his men speaks up, referring to Arcee. He stares at me for a few seconds before he gets sinister smile and turns to his men.

"We'll have to cut and run. Open her up." As soon as he gives the order, the sound of a chainsaw revs up.

"I'm going to end your life Silas." I answer in a dark tone with malice lacing my every thought.

"Yes, yes, sure. A child threatening me. How quaint." He sarcastically replies and all but ignores me as he turns back to the computer. Unfortunately, I'm still subdued so I can't do anything… physically hurtful to him. As the chainsaw continues to rev up and tear through something. I turn to see one of the soldiers going at it close to Arcee but I can't tell what they're cutting.

Still, theirs not much more for me to do but watch through the monitors as Jack and Arachnid continue to play the little game the spider bot had set up. A quick look to the clock shows he doesn't have a lot of time left. "C'mon Jack. Find her." I mutter under my breath and hope he can find her. Just as when things look bleak, Arachnid shows herself and to make things even more playful for her, or that she's feeling especially cocky, she points to a nearby tower with a giant tanker that has ladders and conveyor belts going to it. Amidst the metal, we see a small white bundle of webbing suspended in the air. Upon closer zooming of it, reveals an unconscious June Darby. "Hurry man." I whisper. Jack makes a beeline for his mother and quickly begins climbing up to get to his mother and hopefully free her. He calls to her a couple times before she finally wakes up.

"Jack, what are you doing here?" She asks surprised and incredibly confused. MECH had placed some microphones as well around the area so we can listen to them outside as well from here. "Who are these people? How did I get in this… stuff?" She asks, referring to the webbing.

' _Oh man. This isn't going to be easy to explain after all this.'_ I think and mentally sigh at how much of a headache this is going to be later on… if we get out.

"Don't worry, mom. I'm gonna get you out." Jack reassures his mom but before he can try to help, Arachnid climbs up the metal supports until she's right up there next to Jack and his mom.

"Aah! Jack, the robots are real?" She screams and asks. _'Wait, she was told?'_

"I beat your deadline." Jack doesn't answer as he focuses on Arachnid and their deal. A quick look to the clock shows he's right. The clock is just shy several seconds before yet I still have a bad feeling about this.

"Afraid not, Jack. The task wasn't for you to find your mother by midnight. You had to rescue her. And time's up." Just as he says that, the counter strikes 12.

"Why am I not surprised?" I speak venomously. Leave it to her to go back on the deal with a little word play.

"Now…" She lobs some webbing at Jack, making him stuck to the metal flooring he's on.

"Aah!" He grunts as his arm is forced down, pulling the rest of him to the floor. With him stuck and now a hostage, she moves around for a better angle and close to them.

"Take a seat. Sit back and enjoy the horror show." She tells him. All the while, Silas impassively watches the screens while his men work.

"Make haste, gentlemen. Don't worry about making a mess." He tells his men.

"Mmmmmm." I give off a low moan in my anger at his order. He barely gives me a glance as Arachnid continues to toy with the Darby's.

"You know, Jack, she's your mom. Why should I have all the fun? So, you get to choose, agonizing… or excruciating?" She accentuates that by spitting some of her acid, and watching it melt.

"No. No." Miss Darby begs no in fear.

"Nooo!" I yell in anger and struggle against my bonds. I know full well how bad and painful that stuff is and I refuse to let ANYONE experience it, especially not to one of my friends mom. My efforts are useless still being wrapped up, and I can barely wiggle myself out of it because it's sticky. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice one of Arcee's eyes open. She glances at the screen before looking at me. I'm not worried as much anymore about them hurting her because it looks like that chainsaw like device isn't cutting through her, nor does she look to be in pain. It seems their only cutting off her bonds. _'Bad move for you, good move for us.'_ Very subtly, we look to each other and we both nod in understanding, getting ready to make our escape. My guard has completely forgotten about me at this point and while he's right next to me, he's focused on the computer screens.

"Jack, your mother wants to know. Don't leave her dangling." Arachnid continues to taunt them.

"You monster! Stop this!" June yells, clearly angry at what's going on and to what the spider bot is doing to her son.

"We only have time to take one part. Go straight for the heart." With their time limited now, Silas gives the order to his men to do. I watch as one of his men grabs the giant drill device and gets ready to cut through Arcee's chest plate.

Now's the time to strike. Before the drill can touch her, Arcee kicks her leg out and hits the drill away from her before jumping to her feet. MECH has thoroughly been surprised by the sudden awakening of the Autobot and immediately open fire on her. Before she transforms I feel her brush against my back before she transforms and speeds out of her.

"Let her go. No matter the outcome, the spoils will be ours." While Silas monologues, I quickly pull the webbing off me and grab my helmet before fitting it to my head then grabbing my handlebars.

*Cha-chick*

I freeze as the sound of gun appears next to my head. Even though the helmet muffles it a little, I can hear it well enough. I slowly turn to and see my original guard aiming his rifle at my head. "Did you really think you could get away so easily?" Silas says like I am the dumbest person in the world right now. "A shame really. She was, what, supposed to be your 'friend' and she just up and left you. Preferred to save herself mostly." He states, spitting out some words as he explains what happened. "Shows that you can never trust these beings." He hisses out the last part as he refers to the Cybertronians.

See, he thinks he's playing on me right now and insinuates that she simply abandoned me after she freed me. I simply stare at him before I smile and let out a few chuckles. "Hehehehe… ohhh Silas. I'm sorry you think that." He looks at me curiously as I relax myself in my seat and prepare myself. "She didn't abandon me… she knows I can take care of myself." _'I was hoping to keep this a secret a bit longer… but let's do this.'_

*Click*

And just like that, my motorcycle collapses and like before, curls up, reforms and shifts until I am back in my armored suit.

*BANG*

"Arh!" I grunt as midway through the transformation, my guard fires a shot into my head. My armored helmet protected me but the close proximity of the rifle shot almost pressed right up against my head makes the force of it that much worse, including making a ringing sound go off in the helmet and my head. As soon as it finishes, my stand on my feet wobbling a little until I hear a voice and suddenly more bullets pepper my form. Not wanting to stay here, I run straight behind me and out the door. Their shots don't injure me so I'm able to make it outside and head in the same direction my friends went. "Ow… crap." I mutter as I shake my head a little before the weariness subsides. "Close one. Note to self: extra padding. Now, where are they?" I question to myself and begin running as far away from the MECH soldiers as I can.

* * *

Silas stares in awe and surprise at the now gone heavily armored teenager. Soon enough, his moment of awe is gone replaced with a look of cold calculation. "So… that's who you are then." He mutters quietly before walking over to the computer and picking up a tablet. A few swipes and presses, and the picture of the bot that hacked his computer back at their now defeunct Kamchatka peninsula base comes up. "No doubt about it. It's him." He grins as he sees the helmet that resembles what he just saw not even a minutes ago.

"What should we do sir?" One of his men walks up and asks. They know their order on the bots but not on the human targets specifically.

For a few seconds Silas stares at the picture before putting the tablet down and staring at the screens. "We wait. We wait… and observe." He tells them and watches as the fight commences. "Let's see how you fight against them." He leans in closer with intrigue.

* * *

I don't transform to close the distance to where my friends are because I don't want any snipers MECH might have to nail me while I'm vulnerable. Besides, it's not that far thanks to my suit so I come to the area I saw in the computer screens of where everyone is. It wasn't that hard. I just had to listen to the sounds of the fighting.

I come across the scene of June and Jack still stuck high up on the platform with Arcee and Arachnid fighting on the ground. They continue to try to kill each other until they move closer to the metal support tower and begin climbing it while trying to kill each other at the same time. Not wanting to be left out, I enable both my gatling arms and run forward and wait for the perfect moment to fire so I don't hit the others.

As they climb the tower again with Arachnid trying to shoot Arcee, she misses until she nearly tears off the platform Jack and his mom are on. I grunt in anger as I watch the fight happen and the closeness to Jack and his mom almost had. While Jack tries to go grab his mom, Arcee and Arachnid try to continue to fight one another until I find the perfect moment. Once Arcee kicks her away, making Arachnid slide on a long support beam, I open fire on the spider bot. "Arhhh!" Arachnid grunts as my bullets pepper her form but don't penetrate as she's more heavily armored than the grunt vehicons I've been fighting. "What?! Who is—?!"

"Hrraaaa!" Before Arachnid can get an answer to her new assailant, Arcee takes the distraction and nails her archenemy right to the side of her head with kick. This sends Arachnid flying off the support beams and towards the ground with a yell of pain. As she falls, she manages to right herself and lands roughly on her spider legs.

She groans as she stands there in pain but as she looks up, a fist with gun barrels wrapped around it is right there in front of her face. She stares at my faceless visor for a second before she smirks. "Well, your new."

"…" I don't reply to her instantly. I step back and cross my arms in front of me. "No…" I smile as her optics widen and she recognizes my voice. Next, both of my blades pop out, ready to fight, as I hold my left arm forward with my right pulled back. "We've met BEFORE!" I shout and launch myself forward. She barely has time to dodge my first slash but the second cuts her right in the left cheek. She recoils form the sharp pain and grabs the injury. As she pulls her hand back, she notices a bit of energon has leaked out and she looks stunned at me. "Now…" I begin to say and cross my arms in front of me, as well as making my visor depolarize, showing my grinning face to her, proving without a doubt it's her 'pet' that just injured her. "Let's finish this, shall we?"

With a cry of anger, she rushes me and tries to hit me with her legs but I block her. She continues to try to hit me repeatedly, over and over again but I hold my arms up to block her attacks, even deflecting her away from me when I can. She's now full on angry at this recent development and she's just striking in rage at this point. As one, she launches several of her legs at me at once so I pull my arms in front of me to block her. I grunt as the force of the combined attack sends me sliding back several yards until I come to a stop. With the distance put between us, she tries to put me in place and launches a glob of her webbing straight at me. I quickly bring my left blade arm up and bring it down straight onto the projectile before it can hit me. It moved too fast to stick to my blade and the sharpness just glides right through it. As it splits past me, my gun function enables onto my right arm where I bring it forward and lay into her.

"Ahhhh!" She yells as the bullets ricochet off her, forcing her to crouch and cover herself with her arms. I continue to fire as I run up to her, keeping her down where I get close enough to cause her some damage. Going to blade mode, she looks just in time to see me bringing my blades up to her. She barely has time to dodge my first strike from taking off her head but the tip of my left blade still cuts into her chest plate while my right blades follow-up cuts into her arms in her attempt to defend herself. She recoils away from me from the mesh wounds I gave her, nothing permanent, but I'm sure they'll hurt. She recovers from the quick attack but as she looks at me, she's no longer blindly angry at me but instead harbors a silent anger as she leers at me. She looks down at my cuts on her before glancing back at me. "Hmph." She smirks at me. "I'm not going to break you… I'm going to take great joy in destroying your spirit." She bears the claws in her hands and I see the acidic foam she secretes from each digit.

I flinch at the burning liquid that's permanently scarred me. She catches onto the movement and even moves in closer while accentuating her claws. I don't move further back as I smile back at her instead. "Hmph." I offer my own smirk and retract my blades. She looks on confused at the movement.

"Hrraaa!" She was so focused on me she forgot about Arcee. My partner comes up behind her and hits her to the side with a fierce kick that sends her slamming into the metal supports. Arachnid grunts as she slams into it but before she can fight back, I open fire on her again, forcing back to cover herself. "Oh no you don't!" Not wanting to let her go, I let up for a second and allow Arcee to close the distance, launching several punches and kicks to her form before landing one hard punch straight to the side of her face. This dazes her enough for Arcee to grab onto Arachnid and with a heave, twirls her around a couple times before throwing her into a large open container nearby us.

We let out deep heavy breaths at the fight and takedown of our enemy. "Nice… one." I breathe out as I walk up to Arcee.

"Thanks." She replies before the both of us look up to where Jack is. He stares at us, before looking at the spider lying helplessly, then the controls he's next to, as well as the giant tanker we are all next to… and where we are. All three of us nod as Jack grabs the controls and Arcee crouches with her hands cupped. "Up you go." She tells me.

I take a few steps back away from her until I have enough room to gain the speed I need. I run straight towards her and as soon as I plant my foot on her hands, "Heyup!" She launches me high into the air towards the metal supports. I manage to grab the metal and hold myself for a second there before looking behind me. Right there is the exit where the contents are to pour out. Just needs a better angle. I grunt as I push myself backwards towards it and grab onto it firmly, my body's momentum allowing the angle be put just right for Jack to let it flow on Arachnid. As soon as I hear the rumbling from inside, I let go where Arcee grabs me and lessens my fall before putting me to the ground carefully. As she does, we both watch as a large pile of quick dry concrete rains down on our enemy.

"Aaaahhhh!" Arachnid yells out as the sludge hits her, bringing her back to full awakeness but its too late. Her movements are frantic at first but gradually slow down to a crawl until finally she stops altogether.

"Nice." I whisper with a smile.

"Jack!" Our attention is focused again on June as she's still hanging perilously in her sticky cage. Jack moves away from the controls and tries to go to his mom.

"Go help them. I'll make sure MECH doesn't try to sneak attack us." I tell Arcee to do. Arachnid may be down but we still have the private military group that has no care for innocent civilian life to deal with. Silas did say whatever the outcome of the battle, the spoils was there's. I don't like the spider 'con but I refuse to let MECH have their way.

Arcee nods and begins her climb upwards while I stay here. "Hang on, June." Besides, MECH won't have their way with Arachnid… at least not until I do.

A quick look around shows we're clear so I think I can get to work. I slowly walk over and get in up close to the spiders frozen face. "I told you what I would do Arachnid." I say as I stare into her glowing eyes.

*Shing*

"And I intend to keep it." My right blade extends before her frozen eyes. I continue to stare at her as I slowly bring my blade right up against her ne—

She smirks.

My eyes widen and I barely have time to bring right arm in front of me as her mouth opens and I'm suddenly sent flying backwards. I grunt as I'm slammed into the ground several feet away but I don't slide too far as the right half of my body is stuck to the ground. "Arcee look out!" I try to warn my partner but its too late because as soon as Arachnid sent me flying with her web, she directed her attention to the climbing bot. Arcee was completely vulnerable as she's grabbed by the web strands from the spider and pulled harshly down to the ground several feet away from me and stuck there. "Damn." I curse under my breath at the quick turn of events that Arachnid just played on us.

"Heheheee." The spider chuckles menacingly as she stares right at me with her claws. "Caught in my web… how unfortunate for you." She grins and gets ready to move.

I stop her as my left arm comes up and I train my gun on her. "Not all of me." This doesn't deter her though, only smiles even more. My guns can't pen. her. It would only be a temporary albeit annoying solution against her and I'm completely stuck to the ground here. _'Need backup. Now dammit!'_ I think as I get ready to fire.

*Brrrrrrrrr*

My thoughts and silent prayers are answered as several lines of continuous bullet fire rain down from the heavens on Arachnid, forcing her to cry out and curl up into a ball from the amount of gunfire hitting her. I look on in awe at the damage done to her before staring into the air to see our actual military backup here lending a hand. _'I don't know how they got here… but I am not complaining.'_

They continue to rain fire down on her until a large smoke cloud has accumulated around her where no one can see her. The helicopters take a moment to stop firing to assess the damage. They should have kept firing because Arachnid pushes through the cloud and takes the chance to send some kind of green laser beam towards one of the helicopters. For a second I expect the helicopter to get hit and blow up, but the beam simply passes through the vehicle, making it spark and sputter for a second before it goes back to normal. "What?" I ask confused at the action before looking at Arachnid. She seems to be concentrating for a second until she begins changing, right into a helicopter. "Son of a—" I open fire at her with my only useable gun. My shots ricochet off her body as she finishes transforming. We can only watch in seething anger as our enemy flies high into the air and escapes into the night.

"No!" Arcee angrily yells as she tries to break through her bonds but to no avail.

"Great." I frustratingly say and let my body fall flat on the ground. "Just great." I let out a groan as I cover my faceplate with my hand. We lay there for a few seconds in silence as the helicopters begin landing nearby before I turn to her. "We just can't catch a break with her, can't we?"

"Grrrrrrrr… no." She lets her head fall to the ground in defeat.

I let out a sigh before sitting up as best I can before extending my blades. With my free arm, I begin cutting my other arm loose before taking the rest of this webbing crap off me, allowing me to finally stand up. I walk over to Arcee and stand in front of her. She notices and looks up at me while I offer her a smile. "C'mon. Let's get the others." I begin cutting to get Arcee free. Firstly with the strands that are holding her to the ground. "I'm pretty sure we've got some explaining to do." I say in reference to June Darby, Jack's mom, who had no idea giant robots existed before today.

"Actually, Nng…" She stands up with the rest of the webbing stuck to her back, which I grab and help tear off her. "Jack went ahead and told her."

"… Come again?" I question if I heard her right. She doesn't respond as she leads me away, a confused look still on my face.

* * *

While we managed to get June down, we didn't really get anything else to show for it. MECH had all but hightailed it out of here with their equipment completely gone besides the little communication device Jack swipped. Now I understand why he did that little begging act and I have to admit, that was badass of him. Arachnid completely took off too so for now, Jack and his mom are sitting nearby with a towel wrapped around her waiting for Agent Fowler to try to smooth things over with them while Arcee and I stand a little further away.

"This was way too close for comfort." I comment about the whole situation.

"Agreed." Arcee replies.

"Still, MECH working together with a bot? I have to admit I was pretty surprised by that."

"With Arachnid of all. Mmmm." Just saying her name makes Arcee seethe.

I fist bump her hand, making her focus on me. "We'll get her next time." I firmly say with conviction.

She smiles at that and returns the gesture. "Count on it." Our mutual agreement in place, as if it ever changed to begin with, we look over to see a soldier walking over to the others. "C'mon." We walk over to them.

"Let me guess… Without a trace. Argh!" Fowler says to the soldier before groaning in anger. If I had to guess, he was implying MECH. Their gone in the wind again as per their usual routine. While the soldiers and Fowler walk off, Arcee and I walk up to the Darby's.

"And she would be your…" June leaves the sentence in the air for her son to finish.

"Motorcycle, guardian, Autobot, friend." Jack lists off about her as he stands up and gestures to the bot.

"Call me Arcee." Arcee says as she crouches a little, allowing for just a bit more eye contact for them both.

"Thank you, Arcee." She stands up and thanks her with a head nod. After thanking her, she turns to me next. "And who might you be?" She directs her question to me. She doesn't see it but I glance to the others and smirk before crossing my arms.

"You can call me Stryker, ma'am. Pleased to meet you." I greet her with a small bow.

"I feel the same way." She replies. "Thank you again, for saving me."

"Jack's our friend." I say with a gesture to Arcee. "We didn't hesitate." I firmly say. She smiles at the fact we were willing to help him in such a dangerous situation.

Jack walks closer to his mom to get her attention. "I think it's time for that ride you once made me promise." I'm not sure what he's implying exactly but needless to say, its time she finds out about our extra-terrestrial friends.

* * *

The next day passes by as it was decided it was best to show her after a nights rest after the hell we just went through. The sun shines high into the air as we drive across the hot desert road towards the entrance to the Autobot base. Jack is carrying his mom behind him on Arcee while I ride alongside them. I have to admit, it was pretty funny seeing for a moment June's look of surprise at the coming rock wall then turn to relief and awe when they part to show us the entrance. Much like how me, Jack, Miko and Raf were when we saw the entrance for the first time, we saw it in awe just like June is showing right now. Slowly, we wind our way down the twisting tunnel until we come across the main area of our base. The hub area that leads to all other sections of the base and the controls for the ground bridge. As we slowly ride in, Ratchet turns around to see us coming in. As soon as we stop, Jack and June get off Arcee, who transforms along with I.

"Mom, meet my science-fiction club." Jack says to her and waves to the other giant Autobots that came to see us in the main room. Raf and Miko are on the upper level nearby but now, officially Jack's mom, June Darby, has seen the entire earth team of Autobots.

"Whoa." She mutters in awe as she looks at them. While she looks at them, I think it might be a good idea to show her myself. Afterall, if she's goings to be a part of the team now, I don't want to have to wear my armor solely to keep up appearances.

"You know, ma'am." I begin to say and walk a little in front of her. When I'm in this, you can call me Stryker. But…" I go ahead and release my helmet before twisting it and taking it off my head, revealing my human appearance to her, making her gasp. "You can also call me Mason—"

"Marrow!"

"… What?" I ask confused as she interrupts me and calls me by my last name.

"You… your Mason Marrow! The missing child!"

' _Oh… oh no.'_ I dreadfully think.

"The missing who now?" Miko speaks up as she comes walking down close to us. "And what is she doing here?" She also asks referring to Jack's mom but we ignore her pretty much.

"No one knew where… wait, do you have a TV or something? Can someone pull up the news on that." She immediately asks and points to the large mass of screens that we use for a lot of our operations.

"Now see here!" Ratchet angrily begins to rant. "This is sophisticated technological equipment that I have meticulously calibrated to be used by us during our important and highly dangerous operations. You can't just simply set it to watch your primitive tele—"

"I got it." Raf finishes typing in his computer and all the screens change to the news channel. Everyone stares at the screens while Ratchet slumps his shoulders.

"Oh." He sadly murmurs.

The news anchor I saw before awhile ago is there again. " _—Still no new developments on the Marrow family's status."_ My friends glance to me before looking at the screens again. All the while I sigh. _"For the past several weeks, their has been no sign of the family's son nor has Mr. and Mrs. Marrow offered to comment to anyone at anytime about their sons status. The Marrow family is a prestigious and powerful family who has amassed an exceedingly large fortune over the years along with being highly influential and their one and only son has not been seen for quite some time. Their has been speculation that it's possible their son, Mason, has either been killed or kidnapped but so far their has been no evidence that suggests either is the case, nor do they seem saddened if it were true. Other possibilities is that simply he's become a shut-in or has left without trace. As I said before, their has been no new update to one of the most powerful family's in the United States and so far, have just been continuing on without stopping. Back to you—"_ Raf presses a button and the screens return to normal.

No one says anything. They stare at the screen for a few more seconds before as one, everyone turns and stares at me.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"DUDE! Your loaded?!"

' _Eeeehhhhhh. Fortune.'_ I mentally sigh. _'Of course that was the word she focused on.'_ Leave it to Miko to break the awkward tension.

* * *

 **Alright, I'm gonna level with you all… I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter. I mean, there are some parts of this I'm happy with, and some parts that I'm not. Can't really say for certain what but just this feeling I have. In any case, I'm sorry about the delay. Lately my feeling of writing has taken a hit so off and on I'll either do a ton of work in a single day or I'll barely get anything done. Hopefully everything will get better soon and I can pump out some amazing work.**

 **Good news is, since I've already graduated from college I won't be doing any school work this semester. So that time I'll spend either relaxing or focusing on my writing. Still, it seems now everyone on Team Prime now knows that Mason is the son to a wealthy entrepreneurial family who has no doubt had bad blood with it, leading him to the situation he is in now. Eventually, more will be revealed but for now, hope you all like the bit of extra information.**

 **Blaze1992:** That was the agreement he made with him. In exchange for the armor materials and other items he may request, Mason would give Fowler the railgun specs he was able to decipher. The guns are one thing, the suit powered by cybertronian tech is another.

 **Seruis:** Yeah, I figured Stryker has a nice ring to it for him.

And problems they are abound. His identity won't be secret for long and things will only get more complicated for him.

 **Grimlock987:** I'll have to look up exactly what his skills are like but we'll see. Maybe.

 **Mr Beaver Buttington:** Yes well, the guy was also undead so the no pain factor also helped in that regard. Plus he was pretty big compared to Mason, so it's not like he would like to voluntarily take him on in hand to hand.

 **Jarhead:** Yeah, I thought it might be nice. That will remain to be seen.

It will get bad, especially when he eventually sees the human piloting it.

 **Cf96:** Thanks.

 **Brady420 (Ch.3):** True, but what's done is done.

 **Fluffy guy:** Thanks.

 **Thedragonstoryteller (Ch.6):** At the time, or some time before that, I was told about that pistol and the name just sounded awesome for him to use so I figured, 'eh what the hell.' As for the shotgun, a combination of terminator and COD just reminded me of the weapon and I also figured that the weapon might be of use to him in the middle of riding. Whether they are supposed to be more powerful or weaker, I guess I just focused more on the opportunity. Sorry.

 **Urdnot Wrex 10 (Ch. 1):** Read and find out.

 **Robotman51:** That is the distinct possibility right there. MECH has shown to want to gain any type of technology to betterment themselves and the idea of a human having that suit is just too much of an opportunity for them to pass up. So most likely, expect it.

 **Guest:** Sorry that I don't have a super extensive knowledge when it comes to firearms. I know the basic and a little more when it comes to guns from my time in preparing to go into law enforcement, my curiosity when watching action and shooting scenes, firefights in movies that leads me to doing a bit of research, as well as scifi-esque elements from movies and video games. It's not perfect but I do what I can. Plus, I know a few people who have a ton more knowledge of firearms than me so if I ever need something specifc, they can enlighten me.

Their will be romance down the road but that's going to be awhile. We're going to have to be patient.

 **Nguyenchris097:** Thank you. We'll have to wait and see. That would be spoiling if I were to confirm or deny it right now.

 **There isn't much more to say so sorry again for the long delay, have a good time reading everyone, and make sure to have a great day, especially to all of you going back to school. Good luck to everyone, for wherever you may need it.**


	18. 17 Metal Attraction

Nervous and a little annoyed. That's kind of the feelings I've had for awhile now and with good reason. Ever since we got back Jack's mom, I have been hounded by my human friends and allies for quite awhile as to how I never told them how I was the son to one of the wealthiest families in the entire country with their hands in a ton of different business ventures.

But none more so have I been hounded than Miko. The first thing she asked me afterwards, the FIRST THING… was money. She asked me for some money and I immediately did a 180 before heading back to my room and locking the giant door.

I did not come out for a bit. It was then that she and the others knew I was not to be a piggybank for them. Well, the others didn't try anything but the message was set. In any case for my time, I've been figuring out some ways to improve my gear but theirs not really anything more I can do with the stuff I have on hand now. I'm gonna need to procure something, possible new gear entirely to make sure I have an edge against the Decepticons more. As well as the new project Ratchet is working on. It'll be something to help me but he has to work on converting it first before I can even think to use it myself on my armor.

Until then, things have been a bit quiet now as of late. MECH hasn't tried anything new and as usual Arachnid is gone in the wind. Some of us are currently in the main area of the base while Optimus and 'Bee have gone scouting and Bulkhead is with Miko and Raf.

"So, how's the armor?" Jack asks me. I still like to wear my armored suit when I can so I can get a better feel for it whenever I'm wearing it for combat. While I don't like the idea of my muscles atrophy if wear ALL the time, during the day when our own leaves for scouting will I wear it just in case they need backup.

"Still works great. Lot of the bugs have been fixed and I'm always thinking up new ways to improve it." I reply.

"That's good. I'd hate to see your get hurt during the missions."

"Thanks Jack." I thank him for his concern.

Before we can continue talking, some small alarms go off. I stand up and walk over to Ratchet as he pulls up what set off the alarm. "Everyone, a vehicular form is approaching."

"Decepticon?" Arcee asks we look at the satellite imaging of the vehicle. A simple car for all intents and purposes goes off the main road and heads straight for the entrance of the base.

"Mom." We relax seeing no apparent danger.

"Again?" Arcee mumbles to him in annoyance. After Jack's mom, June Darby, found out about the Autobots and then saw the base, she kind of has been coming by often to make sure her son is safe.

"She worries." Jack gives a simple answer but it doesn't really dissuade Arcee of her feelings. June has been kind of second guessing a lot of the way things are done here at the base, mostly in concern and worry for her son and its starting to wane on some people. I don't really care as she doesn't focus entirely on me… but I can see it in her eyes that theirs something there of a possible concern for me.

It's… a little nice to be worried about you know.

Soon enough, the car comes rolling in before it stops off to the side. As expected, Jack's mom steps out and greets us with her holding her purse. "Hi, honey."

"Hey."

"Hello Mason. I see your still wearing your… armor." She hesitantly says to me.

I look down at myself before shrugging back at her. "Well, its not like I sleep in it ma'am. Still have to get used to the feel." I explain to her. She's not entirely convinced but drops it nonetheless.

"Well, I uh… finished my shift early at the hospital, so I thought I'd swing by." She tells us all before looking over at Ratchet as he works on the terminal, as usual. "Good to see you again, doctor." Ratchet barely gives her a nod. "Arcee." She addresses the femme. "So, where's Optimus?"

"On a scouting mission with Bumblebee. Sorry to disappoint." Ratchet informs her.

"And I wore heels and everything." She teases.

"Mom!" And in true parent embarrassment, he groans.

I chuckle a little at the action but something gets Ratchet's attention on the computer. "That's odd. There is an extremely unusual magnetic flux for any planet."

"What type of unusual activity?" I ask him as I walk closer.

"I'm not quite sure. This planet has its own specific magnetic fluctuations but these readings… their different than what I've seen. I need to do some more scanning. I'll let you know if it requires investigating or not."

"Got it. Thanks Ratchet." I thank him and return to the others.

"Sooo, let me get this straight, you're a fragile human like my son and I, your barely an adult, and yet your willing and allowed to go on these dangerous missions that could possibly end with your life?" June says although by the end of it it kind of feels more like question and clarification as to what I do around here.

"I had to do aaallloot of sneaking around Optimus's back without him knowing in order to prove myself I can help in the fight. Building this armor under his nose was not easy." I explain as I pat my chest, making small audible metal thunks.

"And he's made pretty good use of it since then. He's got a higher bodycount than Rachet." Arcee boasts. Which make me smile.

"That's only because I'm more technical than a fighter. And don't forget how many times I've saved everyones lives!" Ratchet heard the small jab at him.

"Sorry Ratchet!" I apologize to him.

"And you better be performing exceptional with that suit! I helped build it afterall." He replies loudly before muttering the last part just barely audible to us.

"So fact of the matter, yeah I may be a squishy and fragile human being compared to our Cybertronian friends," I thumb in the direction of Arcee and Ratchet, "But with this armored suit I can be on par with the Decepticons and be a very useful ally for the Autobots." I say with a smile and conviction lining my voice.

"Then why don't you build one for the others to help make sure they're protected?" She asks.

"…"

"…"

"…" Ratchet, Arcee and I look down in sadness in memory of who helped make this thing a reality. Even the small clicks of Ratchet tapping on the terminal stop. "The cost… is too great."

"Oh… okay." She nods, though I get the feeling she's not entirely convinced but relents nonetheless, most likely from the sudden shift in mood that was just exhibited. Afterall, with what family I am apart of revealed, money isn't really a problem for me… but theirs no amount of money that can ever come close to the cost of materials I used for my suit. Before we can talk anymore, we hear the sound of a car engines getting closer and closer. Soon enough, Bulkhead comes speeding right in and an excited Miko and Raf step out.

"Did you feel the G's on that last turn? Bulkhead's an animal!" Miko freezes when she notices June here. "Remember when this used to be a secret clubhouse?" I barely hear her whisper to Raf before the two of them come walking over.

"Uh, don't worry, Ms. Darby. We were wearing seatbelts." Raf appeases her a little, and to make sure they were alright, which I doubt Miko was in terms of the seatbelts.

"I'm sure you were, Rafael. Hi, Miko. How's school going?" She tells him before addressing her.

"Why? What'd you hear?"

"Geeze Miko, enough with the accusations." I chuckle a little at on immediate on edginess.

"Let's do this thing, you two." Arcee addresses Jack and I. We're supposed to help her with some new upgrades she's got going so Jack and I were to help her.

"But I just got here. I brought sandwiches." She says and pulls up her purse and opening it up a little, revealing some wrapped sandwiches.

"Mom!"

"Thank you." I am not embarrassed by the mother as Jack as is while I pass by and pull a wrapped up sandwich from her bag. A quick pull and my helmet comes off where its held under my free arm before taking a bite out of the sandwich… and it tastes awesome. "Mm! Oh wow. This is nice." It's a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich but man is it a lot better than most of the fast food stuff I get, and store bought food items as well, mostly chips. You kind of feel a little dull eating the same foods over and over and over again so this is a nice change of pace.

"Thank you." She smiles at the compliment. Meanwhile Jack shakes his head at the display.

"Well anyway mom, I really need to help Arcee test her upgraded tracking system." Jack tells his mom as we begin walking with the femme that's holding some cords.

"Well, just be careful." She advices her son.

"There's nothing to be careful about. It's a routine diagnostic." Arcee tries to ease the human mother of any worries.

"Are you sure you need Jack for that?"

"… Ugghhhh." This just makes her question her even more, making Arcee audibly groan at how much June is being picky.

"Uh-oh." I hear Bulkhead say at the scene.

"Bulkhead, I need you back in the field to investigate an odd magnetic disturbance." Thankfully, Ratchet comes in with the report on the magnetic situation we were talking about earlier.

"I'll go with!" Miko in her ever adventurous state immediately volunteers herself for the mission.

"Whoa. Stay put, Miko." And as usual, her guardian puts his hand out to stop her from running off.

"Graaaa." She growls at the shutdown and walks over to us group of humans and one femme Autobot.

"Why aren't you going with him?" June asks Miko.

"Someone thinks it's not safe." She sulks at not being able to go.

"But it's safe for Jack and Mason to go with Arcee?" She questions. Arcee, Jack and I look at each other, before I stare down at my armor.

"Mom, totally different."

"Way." I add after Jack.

"Oh. How?" She asks her son.

"Mother knows best, Jack." Before he can try to answer though, Arcee speaks up. She then tosses the cables and walks over to Bulk. "Wait up, Bulkhead. I'm going with."

"Wh ah!" Jack groans in I think betrayal at how his partner just ditched him like that, before he too sulks.

"What'd I say?" June really doesn't know does she?

"Here's the thing ma'am. Some missions don't require for us to go into live fire combat and some are just simple routines we need to do, like gear tests and patrols. The one Bulkhead and Arcee are going on will more than likely end up with us getting attacked by Decepticons and having to fight for our lives while also making sure they don't get whatever it is that interests them." I explain to her in a slightly high and a little playful voice at the differences between missions. "…" I straighten up and think for a second. "…Hold the bridge!" I do a 180 and begin sprinting towards the portal while stuffing the last of the sandwich in my mouth.

"W-wait! What about fighting for your lives and the danger?!" June tries to convince otherwise.

"Sorry! Can't hear you! Portals too loud!" And by that point I'm already through with the others.

* * *

The ground bridge spit us out in a sort of rocky and desert area of the world. Can't be sure where exactly but the place doesn't look exactly teeming with human life so we don't have to worry about getting spotted.

"Don't take it so personal, Arcee. Jack's mother's just… protective." Bulkhead tries to ease the femme on the attitude and mindset Jack's mom has when she's around the base considering its been graining on her nerves.

"She's a good mom, Arcee. She wants to protect her son." I chime in a little as I climb over a rock ledge.

"Well, I protected her son for months before she had a clue. Suddenly she wakes up to reality, and I'm not enough." Arcee complains ahead of us, taking point.

"No kidding." A new yet familiar voice speaks up behind us. We whirl around to find the source, only to look down and see Miko standing there. "Can't we ban her from the base?" She advises for us to do. Seems she doesn't like the idea of a parent no less hovering around the base.

"Oh great." I mutter and place my hand to my faceplate and shake my head. _'Why am I not surprised?'_

"Miko, how did you—"

"Gonna need a bridge." Bulkhead begins to ask but Arcee interrupts with a radio to base.

"Wait, don't send me back to helicopter mom." Miko begs. "It's just… I miss the way things were." She tells us in a bit of a sad voice. While I don't like that she went ahead and snuck through the portal… again, I get what she means. Before with just the four of us humans, it was just us doing our own things somewhat freely with our new Cybertronian friends. With Jack's mom there most of the time, she's now become more of the mother figure to all of us to make sure we're all alright and not doing anything too dangerous. This second guessing is grating on both us and the 'bots because of it. Not as much on me since my safety is pretty high up there with my suit on, but there are moments.

It seems Miko's words hit Arcee in the right spot. "Strike that, Ratchet. It's only recon." She cuts the transmission before looking at Bulk and I. "She's safe with us."

"Sweet!" The stowaway is ecstatic about coming along as Bulk picks her up and puts her on his shoulder. "Crank up track seven, Bulk."

Arcee: Track seven?" As soon as Arcee asks, our hearing is blasted by some heavy metal music. My helmet automatically turns down the sound to avoid breaking my eardrums but wow was it still loud. "Don't you think that's a little loud for recon?!" She asks over the sounds.

"Very!" I loudly agree with her.

Soon, Bulkhead turns off the music. "Aww." Much to Miko's dismay.

"A Scout should be silent, but deadly." She tells the two of them, which is something that the two of them weren't doing with how loud the music was.

"Ccckk." And for some reason the two of them are snickering and laughing.

' _Why are they laug- Oh wow.'_ I shake my head at the thought. "Oh grow up you two." I mutter in annoyance.

"What?" Arcee asks, confused as to what she said to get them laughing and me with my comment and skaing my head.

"'Silent, but deadly' means something completely different on earth." Bulkhead tells her.

"You get it right, Mason?"

"I'd rather not right now." I reply to Miko, turning away from them.

She waves me off before patting her guardian on the shoulder. "Bulk, let's get our recon on." Miko says and Bulkhead pulls ahead of us.

"I always take point." Arcee mutters in a bit dismay at her usual position now being taken.

"I know, but Miko likes to be up front so she can see." Bulk turns to tell us before he continues walking without any other words spoken, by them or us.

"No matter where I turn, I'm the third wheel."

"And I'm the fourth." I add to Arcee.

"Looks like it. C'mon." She waves me forward and we begin following behind the new point members.

"Oh hey Arcee. About earlier when we were talking about Jack's mom?"

"Yeah? What about June?" She asks as we jump onto a rock.

"Remember, she's a mother. She's kind of supposed to care about her son and thinks no one is good enough to protect him. Ever. Not even a giant protector from space." I do what I can to explain why June has been so uptight with the missions and what he's supposed to do.

"Is that the same with your mom?" She asks in joking manner.

"…"

"…Mason?" It takes her a second to notice I'm not walking with her. She stops and turns to me as I give her a stare. Even through my helmet, she notices.

"Low blow, Arcee. Low blow." I grumble as I walk past her.

"Wha- Wait, no- I didn't mean… dang it." She stutters. In hindsight, I know she probably didn't mean anything bad… but still. I'm not really comfortable dealing with anything involving my parents at this point. Afterall, they barely involved themselves with me anyway.

Still, we catch up to Bulk and Miko as we are about to crest the hill of rocks right where the reading is that we've been following.

"Hmm. Looks like Ratchet's magnetic flux is coming from—"

"Rahh!" The sounds of fighting immediately interrupt us and we duck down. In the clearing where the signal is coming from we spot none other than Breakdown and Arachnid fighting each other.

"Arachnid." Arcee hisses her name, voicing my venomous thoughts as well. Even when my fists clench tightly in anger at seeing her.

"And Breakdown. Your guy's archenemies, and they're mashing it up." Miko whispers to us.

"Over that." Bulkhead points to the odd looking handle device that they dropped and are focused on trying to grab.

"The source of the magnetic disturbance."

"Looks like it." I agree with Arcee. _'Wonder what it does? Either way, neither of those two are going to get it.'_

"All right. What's the plan?" Miko asks. The three of us look at her before Bulk puts her down.

"Miko, don't move. I mean it." He warns her.

"Aww!" And again, much to her dismay in not doing anything. With her not being in the thick of it, we get ready to attack ourselves and put ourselves into the fight should the need be, mostly in making sure they don't get the device. Arachnid gets the advantage in the fight as she gets behind Breakdown and knocks him to the ground. With him down, she stalks over to the device and reaches over to grab it. Before she can grab it however, Arcee shoots it, launching it away from her. She looks up towards us to see all three of us aiming down at them, their blasters and both gatling guns ready to unload.

"Arcee. And look… You brought a new partner for me to snuff." She refers to Bulkhead before sending a look towards me.

"That would be Bulkhead." Breakdown says once he gets up. He then looks at me. "And Stryker."

"Stryker?" Arachnid mutters my name oddly.

"Nice to see you, Breakdown, even though you tried to kill us." I answer sarcastically, in reference to when we rescued him from MECH. Then I look to Arachnid. "Arachnid, wanna kill you as always."

"Hmmm… very well… Stryker." Even though she knows who I really am, I guess she's fine with going along with my new name. From the sly grin she gives me, I can see it as a game to her as usual.

Now that we've revealed ourselves, its time to get into the fight now. "Launch me." Arcee orders Bulkhead to do. Without wasting any time, he grabs her and throws Arcee high into the air. She does a couple flips in the air before she sends a barrage of shots straight towards the Decepticons as she falls, forcing them apart from each other.

Breakdown is not happy with the development. "Raaaah!"

"No, she's mine." Arachnid however gets in the wave of a charging Breakdown and moves to engage Arcee. While he's been interrupted, Bulkhead takes the chance and blindsides him by decking him with his wrecker arm. With both enemies engaged, I move closer and get ready to focus on Arachnid when the opportunity presents itself. As per the usual with Arcee and Arachnid, they both get into a fight with the both of them trying to stab and slice each other repeatedly with Arcee just barely pulling ahead. A moment in their fight is all I need as I decide to join in. "Arhh!" Arachnid yells as I come running full speed to them with both my guns peppering her with bullets. When I get close enough, I extend my blades for the two of us to fight now.

"Hrah!" I yell as my blades collide with her claws and she pushes me back and away frome.

"Stryker, what are you doing?! She's mine!" Arcee yells but that doesn't stop me.

"She's my fight too!" I yell back too and charge. Arachnid simply smirks at the new opponent change and charges me as well. She tries to attack me with her claws but I duck and dodge her before I go to slice at her. She blocks my attack with a couple of her spider legs and tries to skewer my head with a couple more of her legs. I manage to lean back and to the side as they pass by me while at the same time, sending my left blade out to hit the spider legs that tried to kill me and my right at her legs. She grunts as my attacks hit her so she dodges back and bares all her spider legs at me. I get ready to dodge her next attack but instead of one she sends them all at me spaced from each other in a sort of a wall towards me. I can't jump out of the way in time so I'm forced to bring both my arms us and protect the majority of my body as they all impact around me. I grunt as I am thrown through the air and flip a couple times before landing on the ground with both my blades stabbed and slowing me down.

I groan as I stand to my full height and glare angrily at her. She simply grins back at me and gets readay to fight. Instead of charging again, I glance to the side, smile, even though she doesn't see it, before I switch to my guns and lay a small burst at her. She grunts as she brings her arms up in front of her for protection but that just leaves her open for my partner. Arcee runs right in throws some punches straight into her stomach, dazing her for a second before delivering a devastating uppercut right to her head. This makes her let out a cry of pain and go sailing back through hair until she lands in heap right with Breakdown, groaning. As we walk closer to them, I unfortunately note that's where the device fell because Breakdown grabs it and powers it up. Arachnid takes the chance and begins to make a run for it.

"Get her!" I yell and Arcee and I open fire on her as much as we can. Arcee's shots go wide while mine are more of annoyances to her with how few I hit until she manages to drill her way down. "Crap." I groan as we both go up to the hole and open fire down it. All the while we can hear the drill go but we can't tell where she is. Arcee continues to fire but I stop to not waste anymore ammo. I also try to look and find her. But because of Arcee's constant firing dust has kicked up from the drilling and I got nothing. "Arcee hold fire! Hold fire! I can't see—" Before I can finish speaking, I begin to feel and notice a pulling sensation. "What?! What?!" I mutter in complete confusion on why I feel like I'm being pulled back hard. Arcee feels it too because she stops firing and grabs the edge of the hole same as me.

"What is going—"

"Arcee!" I yell as she's slowly dragged backwards. I can't try and help her because both my hands are focused completely on holding on for dear life. I also can't tell just what's going on either back where everyone is. What sounds like metal impacting metal, then rocks, and transforming before someone takes off. "Uhhh." I groan as the pull sensation dissipates and I lay there for a second. "Crap." I grunt as I stand up and look around to find the others. I see Miko running up to Bulkhead who is lying on a bed of rocks.

"Bulkhead! The 'cons are getting away!" Miko yells to her guardian as I walk up to them. "Hey! My phone!" She goes to grab her phone that's against Bulkhead for some reason but can't make it budge. "It's stuck!" She complains.

Ignoring his human partners annoyance, he looks around, as do I for our fourth missing bot. "Where's Arcee?"

"I don't see her anywhere." I say looking all around. I don't see any energon on the ground so thankfully no ones seems to have indicated any serious injuries.

"Ugh! Why don't you just marry her?" Miko grumbles in annoyance, most likely from how we're ignoring her. I also ignore the slight blush that appears on me.

"I'm right behind you." We hear her say, from behind Bulkhead.

"Where?" He asks, looking around.

"Let's just say… she's got your back." Miko says after glancing behind Bulk. I don't have to see what happened because Bulk turns himself completely around, revealing where Arcee is.

"Uh, uh, uh! …Scrap!" She struggles as she seems stuck back to back with Bulkhead before stopping.

"Are you guys okay?" I ask as I walk closer to them.

"Uhh, define okay?" Bulkhead asks.

I look at them a bit more and their odd place with each other but I don't see anything on the outside that indicates what's got them stuck. "Do you want me to try and separate you two?" I ask as I walk closer to them.

"Knock yourself out." Bulkhead crouches, allowing me to jump up onto his back.

"Wait! Don't!"

*Thunk*

"What?" Arcee's warning comes too late because just as soon as my left hand touches Bulkhead next to Arcee's head, it remain stuck there. "The heck?" I grunt in confusion as I try to pull it off but nothing.

*Thunk*

"No, wait." I mutter to no avail as my left leg, from the knee to my foot sticks to Bulkhead as well. "How the—" I try to push myself off by bracing on Arcee's shoulder.

*Thunk*

"…"

"…"

But my hand slips.

"… Let it be known, I did warn you."

"… Yes you did… and I apologize." I say to Arcee… directly to her eyes… because my helmet is stuck to her face, so now we are both staring right into each other's eyes while my right hand is stuck on the other side of her head on Bulk.

"Uhhh, guys? What happened back there?" Bulkhead asks from the front, since he can't, you know see us right now in our compromising position.

"Oh great, now they're closer than ever!" Miko loudly says in slight anger. "Why don't the two of you just kiss already?!"

Both I and Arcee's eyes widen at the insinuation, and what we should do. In my close proximity however to her face, I think I notice something interesting. "Arcee, are you b—"

*CRINK*

"OW! OW! OW! Okay! Okayokayokay! I didn't see anything! You are not doing what I think your doing! Don't break my neck!" I loudly beg of her as she twists her head sharply and hard, pulling my head along with her and making it feel like she's going to break my neck. She soon lets up and relief floods me.

"What's going on back there?" Bulkhead asks.

"Nothing." Arcee replies back in an annoyed tone. We both try to pull away from each other but we just can't get free. I don't want us to continue to remain in our… positions for too long.

"Hold still for a second Arcee." I warn her and proceed to twist my head again. With whatever force is holding us in place, I manage to twist my helmet off and slide my head free. I shake my head a little to clear myself before reaching over to my right arm. It's awkward, its weird, and embarrassing but I manages to stretch myself to use my nose on the control on my arm to input some commands. "Ahh! Yes." I say in relief and triumph as my right armored hand comes free, leaving the gloved armor piece stuck to Bulks back and my hand free to the elements. But at least now I manage to maneuver myself off Arcee. With my free hand, I proceed to roll my helmet upwards off Arcee's face and rolling it onto Bulkheads back so its not stuck to her.

"Bwah… thanks." She shakes her head for a second before thanking me. I nod back at her and while we're free from each other, we're still in a bit of a situation.

We look down at each other, then along Bulkhead before we come to the realization. "Magnetics." We both say at the same time.

"That does explain the magnetic disturbances Ratchet found." I surmise. Somehow that device magnetized the two of them, and now me by proxy.

"Speaking of Ratchet…" Arcee begins to say before she contacts home. "Ratchet, this is Arcee."

"I copy you Arcee. Have you found anything on those magnetic disturbances?"

"Sort of. Bulkhead, Mason and I have been… magnetized." She tells him

"You've been magnetized? Together? All three of you?"

"They're inseparable." Miko says after unsuccessfully trying to pull Arcee free.

"And the device that did this is on its way to Megatron." Bulk informs him.

"A polarity gauntlet. A deceptively simple but diabolical creation."

"No kidding." I mumble, leaning close to my helmet so I can still hear and speak in the conversation but not actually having my head inside it.

"Just tell me you can unhitch us, Ratchet." Arcee asks him.

"It may simply be a residual magnetic charge providing your current… attraction."

"They're not attracted to each other!"

"Miko shush!" I scold the girl.

"But I'm afraid retrieving the gauntlet is our surest bet for reversing its effect. Once Megatron gets his hands on the gauntlet…"

"He'll use it for a whole lot more than attaching notes and family photos to the fridge." Ratchet lets the sentence fade with Jack picking up on it.

"Jack, I'm not following." We hear his mom answer.

"Madam, we are forged of metal alloy. Even Mason's armor is made of metal. If Megatron could repel us with the flick of a switch, we might never again have another shot at him." Ratchet informs June of the direness of the device.

"Instant force field." Raf simplifies it.

"Worse yet, he might use it to meld us all into a scrap pile." He adds a bit more on how bad this is. "The good news is, the gauntlet hasn't traveled far. I would strongly advise pursuit." He informs us.

"We can catch up faster on wheels."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Both Arcee and I quickly put a stop to the wrecker from transforming.

"And snap me in half?"

"Or crush me like a car crusher?" I add.

"Right."

"Sweet! I'll take point." Miko begins to run off.

"Absolutely not!" I lightly yell.

"Not this time, kid." Arcee stops her too.

"What? But you said—"

"That was recon. This is war. I'm not risking your well-being just so you can hit your daily adrenaline quota.

"It's bad enough now you being here, it'll be even worse considering our stuck positions AND you still being here. You'll only get in our way." I bluntly tell her. While I don't want, our compromised positions don't help at all.

"Ratchet, Miko needs a bridge." Arcee calls Ratchet.

"Coming up."

"You think Jack's mom is bad? You sound just like her!"

Now, I'm pretty sure the microphone is still on when Miko said that but the comm back at base shuts off, so we don't hear what happened. Without much else to do when Miko has gone, Bulkhead begins the treck towards the signal with Arcee and I as passengers.

"This is sooo undignified." I can't help but mutter at how Arcee and I are right now.

"Agreed." She nods.

"Heeey come on now. Think of it this way, I never had eyes in the back of my head before or blasters and guns to cover my rear, and you get a built-in shield." He accentuates the last part by hitting his chest with his fist.

That doesn't really lift us of our mood as Arcee seems to be deep in thought about something. "Bulkhead, you don't really think I sound like June, do you?" She asks him.

"Um…" He hums unsure.

"Mason?"

I scratch my head a little as I think up a proper way to tell her. I don't think there is a wrong way to say but usually theirs an invisible minefield with no warnings your threading when dealing with stuff like this or something similar. "Well, your both protective of him that's for sure. If we're basing on protective alone, then I'd be in the same boat too, since I always try to make sure my human friends are okay." I answer the best I can.

"She's over-protective. I'm just… Protective." She tries to reason but from the tone in her voice, I don't think she's succeeding.

"Totally different." Bulkhead agrees, which might be the smart thing to do and avoid an argument. Before anymore can be said, the scanner suddenly begins beeping.

"Is that it?" I ask.

"Yeah. The gauntlet's close." He replies. We soon come across an old abandoned gas station that's pretty deserted.

"Gra! Mm!" Sort of. From the struggling sounds, I think we found Breakdown. Over the sounds of his struggling, the telltale sounds of Arachnids movements can be heard.

"I assume Arcee and Stryker aren't far behind." Arcee and I curl ourselves in a little so as not to be seen by her since its obvious she can't see us.

"You might say that." While Bulk gets her talking, Arcee and I ready our weapons quietly. I can only use one of my guns right now since the other is still stuck and I don't feel like releasing another armor piece from my body, as well as removing the one part that's keeping held more firmly and braced.

"Blaster hands in the air and turn around."

' _Oh, wrong choice of words Arachnid.'_ I can't help but grin. "Whatever you say." It works perfectly because as soon as Bulk complies and turns around, the both of us open fire on her. I lean in closer against Bulkhead with Arcee covering my exposed head while my arm is outstretched and unloading on her. She tries to retreat from us but one of Arcee's shots knocks the device from her hand, and activates it.

"Uh-oh." I watch as everything metal begins to slowly be pulled into it.

While Bulkhead tries to keep us from flying forward, Arcee and I are being stretched from the magnetic force pulling on us. We don't have to endure for long though as Breakdown soon manages to free himself from his bindings and shuts off the device. The final shut off brings one last blast of magnetic energy as it pulls us hard. Bulkhead tumbles over until we find ourselves between the cons.

"Still up for a truce, muscles?" She asks as the two Decepticons stalk up to us, Arachnid against Arcee and I, Breakdown with Bulkhead.

"Only because I hate Bulkhead more than I hate you. Raaaaah!" They both waste no time duking it out while Arcee and I try to take the spider bot down. Unfortunately, my arm reach isn't as good as Arcee's so she takes the majority of the blocks and dishes out most of the punches, even going for a kick that Arachnid tries to block but still gets hit with her other leg.

"Whoa!"

"What?" Bulk's fighting shifts us around a lot, making us lose sight of Arachnid for a second. When we see her again, the move allows Arachnid to try and get a punch on Arcee.

I thrust my arm forward and catch her fist with my arm. "I don't think so!" I push her off and just barely nick her with the tip of my blade, making her recoil.

"Bulkhead, would you stay still?" Arcee complains to him.

"My bad." He apologizes and resumes his fight with Breakdown. Again Arachnid tries to kill us but after hearing a nasty blow from Bulk to Breakdown.

"Whoa." We're turned around now.

"Need a hand?" He tries to help us back by trying take on Arachnid.

"No, she's mine."

"Ours!" I correct Arcee. I know she's got history with the spider but now I have beef with her as well. While Bulkhead decides make himself known to Arachnid, Breakdown uses the device again on one of the oil pumperjacks in the area, pulling a large piece of it off and aiming right at us. "Uhh, Arcee?" I get her attention to the object floating in the air.

"Bulk, duck!"

"Huh?" Bulkhead isn't fast enough as he turns us around and gets hit square in the face and we fall to the ground.

"AHhhhh!" I groan as the pressure of Bulk on me very nearly crushes me in an instant. Without my armor glove to take the pressure, I'm forced to spread my arm away from the bot that's freaking crushing us less I completely destroy my wrist and my entire hand that follows.

"Bulkhead, getup! Arh!" Arcee feels the pressure too and I'm forced to just lay there alongside with her, as well as making sure my locked down arm and leg don't break from the awkward angles. Thankfully my torso armor holds under the weight and just in the right spot too. Anymore of angled a little more and my head would be a pancake too. Before we can do anything else to try to escape or keep the cons off us. Arachnid pins her hand down with her heel, as well as my arm with her spider legs.

"Pinned like a bug." Arachnid toys with us as she sneers down at us, with using staring angrily back at her. "Of course, I can think of one permanent way out of your predicament."

"Stuff it bug." I hiss at her in my vulnerable position while Arcee growls lowly. While not a smart move to do, I really do hate her. This probably irks her just a bit as I see a twitch in her eyes and a small bit of her curls upwards on the corner of her mouth.

We don't have to focus on her for too long as the steps of Breakdown come up closer to us. In my covered state, he still can't see that I'm human so I'm thankful for that, but if something doesn't happen soon, it won't matter. "I'll take topside." He informs us all and with a grunt of effort, reels his fists back.

I brace myself for the possible hits but it doesn't came as harsh. I can't tell what's happening with Bulkhead but its good as Breakdown is launched into Araachnid and away from us. With the big guy off of us, Arcee and I are finally able to get up and not be almost crushed to death. When we try to get up, we realize something else.

"We're free." She points out as she rolls her shoulders around.

"Perfect." I jump onto my feet and shake myself a little now that I can move freely again. "Must have been when he launched that hunk of metal at us." Bulkhead reaches behind himself before pulling something off.

"Here you go." Bulkhead tosses me my gauntlet.

"Ah, thanks." I take and begin equipping it.

"This too."

"Thank you." I take the helmet from Arcee and reequip it. Seeing my HUD again is a relief as I feel whole again. "Ooookay. So much better now." I comment as I too roll my shoulders around. Not long after, our enemies get back onto their feet and look ready to fight, same as us. "Guys," I get my friends attention. They both look at me with my clear faceplate staring at the both of them, a smile on my face. "Take them." The glass polarizes, and they smile before charging them.

Arcee decides to change things up and engages Breakdown. Using her small stature compared to him, she gets in up close and lays a ton of fast but brutal punches right at him, forcing him back.

"Want to dance?" Before Arachnid can try to attack her, Bulk moves in and gets her attention with his own fists ready to throw down.

Arachnid simply smiles. "You're not my type." She replies and jumps into the air before spinning. Using her spider legs, she turns herself into a deadly spinning top that hits Bulkhead harshly and repeatedly without giving him the chance to block before he's thrown down and she flies over him.

"Scrap!" Bulk groans at the quick takedown he just received.

"Want something?" I challenge Arachnid as I step in front of the magnetic device. "Your gonna have to go through me."

"Gladly." She bares her claws and rushes at me, ready to stab my like crazy. I'm able to swing my blades in tune with her claws and deflect her attacks away from me. I too swing my blades at her in hopes to hit her but most of them are either deflected similarly away or she jumps up over my slashes. One of her claws goes for my head but I deflect the attack with my left blade to my right while following up by rolling my body around and slashing her arm as she tries to pull away. She cries out in pain from the cut and cradles her arm, looking at the thin line I cut into her. She looks back at me with a look of surprise as I grin and cross my blades in front of me.

"Payback's…"

*Shing*

"A bitch." I slice my blades along each other, emitting sparks and making the noise.

This only seems to raise her ire as she bares her claws again with a menacing look. "Ohhh, I am going to enjoy making you- Ahhh!" Before she can finish speaking, a sudden invisible force pushes her and launches her away from me through the air and landing hard on the ground.

I stare at her for a few seconds in confusion before looking to the other side and seeing Arcee standing there with a smile on her face, and the device in her hand. "Now I don't know about you, but you too just didn't seem right for each other." She says with that smug smile.

I continue to stare before I glance back to the groaning spider bot then back to Arcee and smile myself. "Opposites don't attract." It's a play on words for the situation that seems fitting. "So, how's Breakdown?" I ask I walk closer to her.

"Bulkhead was nice enough to switch with me to back you up." She answers. I was alright with fighting Arachnid, but I'm not going to decline help in battle. With our nemesis knocked back, we turn to Bulkhead and Breakdown as they get ready to fight each other. I'm tempted to go in and help but as they try to attack each other, their fists stop just away from each other and both are launched back from each other. Breakdown even tries to shoot a rocket at my ally but for some reason the rocket redirects away from Bulk and back at the one that fired, then redirects into the air too before it explodes.

"Huh?" I question in confusion.

"We can't touch metal." Breakdown surmises.

"We're polarized." Bulk says.

"It must be that gauntlet." I say to Arcee. She looks at me then to the device as she examines it a little. "All the times it's been used on everyone, magnetizing us, picking up metal objects, and using them on each of us directly has caused some changes to us.

"Unh!" Suddenly a large strand of web latches onto the device in Arcee's hand, making her cry out as Arachind pulls the device back to her.

"Always leave on a high note." She taunts us and transforms before beginning to fly off.

"Stryker, Bulkhead, the gauntlet!" She warns us.

"Bulkhead! Throw me!" I shout to the wrecker. We can't let her get away and do with as she pleases He places his hand down where I jump onto it.

"Hang on!" He yells and with a mighty heave, throws me straight towards the fleeing spider-con.

Already I can feel the G's of the force of the throw on me as I fly through the air towards her with both my arms poised forward straight at her.

*Shing*

Blades drawn.

"Arhhhh!" Arachnid lets out a cry of pain as I dig my blades right into her tail rotor where it connects to the main body of her. "You little gnat!" She insults me and tries to do some maneuvers all around to shake me off by I remain stuck firmly to her.

"That's the thing Arachnid!" I shout back to her over the sounds of the helicopter blades. Tearing one of my blades out, I stab it back into her further down her tail, eliciting a hiss from her before getting ready. "Some gnats… bite!" I retort back to her as I pull out one of my blades and outstretch myself as much as I can towards her tail rotor. With as much power as I can in my stretched state, I use my blade against the connector of the spinning object right into her body.

"Ahhhh!" She yells as when I hit it, the spinning blade is jostled a little from its place, making it wiggle harshly but not come off completely. This does disrupt her enough to go into a harsh tail spin through the air, making her lose control and head straight towards the ground, including heading right back to where everyone else is at.

Because of the force of the turning, my grip begins to slacken and the one blade I have jammed into her ever so slowly begins to edge itself out of her with every twirl in the air we do. My grip loosens even more until finally I am launched away from her. "Gotcha!" Thankfully, I don't meet the ground as someone manages to catch me through the air. Once we land, I look up to see Arcee looking at me with a smirk on her face. "Well, that would have been a hard landing." She comments.

I shake my head a little. "Yes, it would have. Please put me down." She does as I ask.

"You okay?" She asks as I wobble a little on my feet before putting my hand to my head.

"Ughhhhh, yeah I'm fine. I don't know if you bots can get dizzy, but I definitely did from all that spinning." I explain to her. To try and help alleviate myself by shaking my head a little to clear it. "Mmm, okay, I'm good." I tell her with a nod and straightening up.

She nods back to me before looking around to see the aftermath of my attack. Bulkhead stands near the knocked out bodies of Arachnid and Breakdown, who in her rough landing crashed into. I walk with Arcee as she scoops up the magnetic device towards Bulkhead.

"Let's finish this." The big guy proposes to the unconscious duo in front of us.

"And risk becoming triplets again?"

"Please no." I add to Arcee, not wanting that to happen again for quite awhile. Not being able to move as much as I wanted was a horrible experience for someone as small as I, not being able to dodge most attacks and all, as well as being able to attack properly. Not wanting to deal with them anymore, we begin to walk away with me keying in the comms. "Ratchet, bridge us." I contact base.

* * *

We exit out of the portal and walk up to Ratchet as he shuts down the gateway. "Souvenir, but…" Bulk begins to say as we hand the magnetic gauntlet device to Ratchet.

"We don't advise indoor use…"

"Courtesy of the Decepticons." I finish after Arcee.

"Ew! They even finish each other's sentences." I manage to hear Miko say, which makes me roll my eyes at her comment.

"Miko, check it out. New battle scars." Bulk boasts to her, pointing at a small scratchy dent. She wastes no time in taking a picture of it. Speaking of battle scars, I need take a look at my own suit to make sure its okay and pristine, and so for nothing to potentially cause a malfunction it the middle of combat.

"Arcee! Hey!" Jack begins to greet his guardian.

"Let the adults talk." June stops her son and gets the bots attention first. "Arcee, I think I owe you an apology."

"You do?" Arcee asks confused.

"I worry, especially when I feel like I can't control things, which, with a teenager, is all the time." Arcee looks a little intrigued as to where this is going from what June is talking about and try to explain. "Jack and I have always been close, especially after his dad left, and I guess it's just… Hard to accept that all that's changing. I mean, I knew it would someday, but you're not quite the type of girl I thought Jack would be ditching me for."

I nudge Jack in the arm a couple times and give him a sly smile. "Shut up." He tries to push, making me chuckle.

"I think we've all been a little guilty of staying attached to the way things were." I'm glad to see that Arcee is conceding that things were tense between the two of them, from both sides. The two of them finish speaking pleasantries and apologies and go their separate ways, June back to her son and Arcee to talk to Ratchet about the device.

"Uhh, excuse me?" I begin to ask, walking up to June and Jack. The both of them look at me. "Miss's Darby."

"Oh, please. Just call me June. It's okay." Even when I'm in an advanced suit of armor, she can still tell the nervousness I'm feeling a little of.

I smile at that and begin taking off my helmet. "Alright then. June, Jack." They both perk up as I address the two of them personally as I finish taking off my helmet and hold it under my left arm. "I have a small favor to ask the two of you."

"What is it?" Jack asks, standing up.

"Well, as it stands, I need some stuff to help make my living here in the base more comfortable as well as getting some things that would help me in combat. Problem is, I can't exactly have UPS coming up here to the base delivering whatever I order."

"So, what is it you need?" June asks.

I stare at them for a silent few seconds before I sigh with my head drooping down. "What I need… is a home." This gets them confused as they look at each other before back to me. "And a name." Even more confused. "I don't want a lot of people finding out about me or where I am currently, as you may know my name and roughly my face has been plastered pretty fiercely on the media as of late." They nod at that, reminders of the occasional news broadcasts would tell the world about my familys… situation. "I can't go putting my name down on any packages I receive or orders placed as this'll get people's attention to your town." I glance around the base, then to the Autobots before back to the mother and son. "This place can't exactly afford anymore attention.

"What do you need then?" Jack asks.

"Uh! With in reason." She quickly adds to her sons question.

"Of course." I nod to her. I can't just ask anything of her and her son now that they are both involved with the war with the Decepticons and my own popularity so hopefully what I'm asking is not too much. "Its simple. I'll order whatever I need and intend to get, but instead of my name and address being put down, I'll put your names and addresses for them to ship them to. I'll notify you both of any emails or confirmations so you have at least some idea of what or when to expect said item, and when they arrive you guys just sign for them, call me to tell me you got them, and I or I bring Bulkhead along to grab whatever it is. Is that alright with you two?"

The two of them take a few moments to think it over before they answer. "I'm cool with it. Mom?" Jack asks his mom.

She places her hand under her chin. "Weeelllll, I suppose its alright." I smile at her agreement. "Just as long as its nothing illegal or dangerous to us, okay?" She asks soon after. She's not as… gentle with her tone on the last part. The firmness in her voice shows she's serious about her and her sons safety and whatever I do is to not harm them or bring them harm whatsoever.

"O-of course, ma'am. I completely understand." I nod to her to make sure she knows I understand.

"It's June, Mason."

"June, sorry. Thank you both." I smile and thank the both of them before I put my helmet back on. "Now that that's settled. I gotta make a call." Once it's fastened, I transform and ride off towards my room as fast as I can.

I think as I turn the corner I hear Miko yet again talk about my armor and angry at the same time about not having one herself. _'Like that's every going to happen.'_ Pretty sure she'd love to use it to freak out her host parents, as when she wanted to do when Bulkhead was assigned her guardian. Anyway, I ride in towards my room and after transforming, I step onto the platform before activating the process of stripping my armor away for storage and repairs later. Letting my body breathe, I shake myself a bit before heading over to my computer and imputing some commands. Not long later, a familiar person appears on screen. "Fowler!"

"Puh! Ah! Aaahhh!" Unfortunately, the government agent was sipping some coffee when I called his name so he didn't see me appear on his computer screen. Which is why he was surprised to hear someone and promptly coughed what he was drinking, as well as spilling some of it on his suit. He lets out a groan at the mess before looking at me angrily. "Dang it Mason! Can you at least give a guy a warning before you suddenly invade his computer screen."

"Sorry." I apologize. He places the drink down and wipes the stains on his suit with his hand to no avail but mostly to just get as much excess moisture off as he can before fixing me with a hard stare.

"So, what do want know? This an Autobot call or a personal one?" He looks a bit more around his screen before focusing back on me. "And since I don't see the others behind you, I'm gonna assume its another favor."

"You guessed right." I confirm what he assumes. "I need something. Nothing big or major as like the last time we made a transaction. I just need one thing." I tell him, trying to make it as simple as a request as I can make it. I think its simple but I'm not sure exactly how Fowler would take it.

He gives me a long stare for a few seconds, more than likely trying to gauge my face for anything to note. Soon, he leans back and crosses his arms. "Alright, what do you need?"

I smile and lean forward myself, keeping the smile up as I tell him what I want. "I need… a gun."

"… A gun?"

"A specific gun… and ammo to go with it. Lots of it."

* * *

 **Hey everyone. This took a bit longer than I would have liked but as it turns out, a few games got my attention for a lot of time and I've just been all over the place. Sorry about that. The heroes that had come out for For Honor took up a lot of time for a bit, then came Red Dead Redemption 2 so that was a fun few weeks of almost non-stop playing, and finally I've been playing the hell out of Star Wars Battlefront 2 after the most recent updates came into play. I have to admit the new stuff they implemented and added has made the game into quite something since its rocky launch. I hear people a lot now somewhat praising the game for its arrival and its nice to see that happen. Been fun playing as Obi-wan and playing the new Geonosis map. Really offers a whole new playstyle in Galactic Assault with the open fields and controlling the AT-TE's since they aren't on rails. You have to control and move them wherever yourself.**

 **Anyway, like I said I'm sorry for how long this took. The holidays have also been an interesting time as family comes and goes to visit, as well as myself because I'll be spending Christmas over at my uncles house this year. Pretty sure it'll be a fun time I'm sure. I'll also be taking my laptop with me so I can keep working over there as well.**

 **Here are the reviews:**

 **Seruis:** Yes, with MECH now knowing his face, only a matter of time before they try to do something to him. As time passes and more chapters are uploaded, you'll find out how things progress. Have a nice day to you as well.

 **Jarhead:** Yes, Uh oh indeed. Hopefully the others won't be as focused on him now that his status has been revealed.

 **Grimlock987:** It's a good show, but not everything can prepare you for what you might expect.

 **JustinTheSpider:** Thank you. That's usually the setup I was going for with Mason's parents as more often than not being rich will not make you the most likeable of people if you act like a jerk. Glad you liked the fight. Hopefully I can make future ones just as or better.

 **Kaijuqueen13:** It should. I do what I can to make things interesting.

 **Blaze1992:** Eventually… probably… maybe. We both know MECH isn't shy from using underhanded tactics to get what they want and if they push back hard enough, maybe, just maybe for a moment, Mason will forget about Optimus's rule with humans.

She's a mom. Of course she's going to make sure that everyone around her son is in the okay field, as well as making sure everyone knows everyone.

 **Colossus Bridger:** For me, I already have an idea how things will play out, whether he enters one or not, but of course their have been moments where two people are killing each other and they end falling for each other, but that's usually a stretch in my opinion.

 **Cf96:** Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Still have to say it over each story but I appreciate it.

 **Funstorytime127:** Thanks for the compliments. Chapters will come I can assure you and I hope they will continue to meet your expectations.

 **Muhamed3871:** Thank you. I do what I can. Hopefully I can continue to make things good in both your eyes and everyone elses.

 **Thank you again everyone for your words, compliments and support. I'm gonna do what I can to kick my writing habits into gear and pump out more content as soon as I can. But not too soon. While I want to get more of my work out, I don't want to let the quality of my work suffer as result. So we'll see how things go from here.**

 **Take care everyone. Belayed Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, and for the future, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to you all. Go ahead and fave, follow review, whatever you wish, but most of all, have fun reading, and have a great day and time towards the end of the year.**


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